Hundreds of Protesters are Anti-wall Street Arrested

Several hundred protesters were arrested Saturday in New York while trying to cross the Brooklyn Bridge as part of their protest about the economic situation, the newspaper The New York Times.

Police arrested about 400 demonstrators for blocking traffic when they took the road across the bridge that connects Manhattan with Brooklyn, said the agency dpa.

The march is part of the call “Occupy Wall Street”, during which protesters camped for more than two weeks to protest economic inequalities.

The group of people painted T-shirts with ties and underwear full of stars (in allusion to the American flag) has also camped on a granite plaza in Lower Manhattan for almost two and a half weeks and show no signs they leave to go, said the AP.

They sleep on mattresses, use Mac computers and play the drums. Go to the bathroom at a local hamburger chain McDonald’s. A few times a day march to Wall Street screaming “This is how democracy is.”

It feels like a classic street protest, but with one exception: No one knows exactly what you want the protestors. “When all the bailout money was used in bonds and so everyone was shocked, but nobody did anything because no one believed he could,” said Jesse Wilson, a demonstrator for 22 years, this week when asked to articulate the cause . “It is time that we unite to realize that we the masses, and we can make things happen.”

But he could not say what, exactly, I wanted to happen. Handmade signs showing some of the protesters (”Less is more” and “Capitalism is evil”) also make it very clear.

Experienced academics and activists give different opinions. “Many of these revolts revolve around economic justice, who gets what in this society, who has a safety net, who was not there and how much corporate influence in Washington,” said Bill Dobbs, an activist involved in demonstrations in 2004 in the Republican National Convention and many others.

Dobbs and others said the lack of precision in the group serves a purpose, because it invites outraged over a wide range of grievances. In fact, some protesters say they are against Wall Street greed, others say they are protesting against global warming and others protest against “the man”.

The modern protester also expects an immediate response, thanks in part to technology, said Gabriella Coleman, professor of media culture and communication at New York University who has studied some groups affiliated with the protest.

“We are at a cultural moment in which people think that the dictator will fall morning, after four days of protests, and the media will jump to attention,” said Coleman.

There has been extensive media coverage, but there have been many complaints that the cause has not been crowned fast enough, or how they want the protesters.