Occupy Wall Street Protesters March to Union Square

protestDaniel Maurer

A crowd of Occupy Wall Street protesters marched to Union Square in a show of solidarity with their counterparts in Oakland. The Local caught up with the crowd of about 300 people around 11 p.m., as it marched up Broadway near 11th Street, on the sidewalk as well as in the middle of the street, against oncoming traffic. At that time, police cars and vans had amassed around the perimeter of Washington Square Park, apparently expecting action there, and only a few police officers were seen escorting the march up Broadway as protesters chanted “Oakland!” and “Who’s streets? Our streets!” At Union Square, one speaker yelled out a slur against the police as about 50 officers amassed around the perimeter of the park. Within half an hour or so, after some short declarations in support of “our brothers and sisters in Oakland” and against police brutality, the marchers dispersed, many of them heading back to Zuccotti Park amidst chants of “occupy the subway!”

Though NY1 reported at least 10 arrests earlier at a march to City Hall, the march to Union Square seemed relatively uneventful, and there was even a moment of comic relief when a “human mic” announced, “There were just 400 cops waiting for us at Washington Square Park.”