Police Arrest Dozens of ‘Occupy Boston’ Protesters

Posted October 11th, 2011 at 3:35 pm (UTC-5)
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Police in the U.S. city of Boston have arrested dozens of protesters who are affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement that has sprung up in major cities across the United States.

Arrests began early Tuesday after demonstrators refused police demands to move their protest away from a public area that had been recently renovated. Police wanted the demonstrators to move to their original protest grounds where the protesters have set up a tent city.

Police had warned that protesters who did not obey police orders would be arrested on charges of unlawful assembly and trespassing.

Meanwhile, six demonstrators were arrested in the U.S. capital, Washington, Tuesday. They were among a group of protesters who entered a Senate office building and tried to display at least one banner reading “Stop the War Now.” They have been charged with unlawful conduct.

It was not immediately clear if the protesters arrested in Washington are affiliated with a larger movement. But many of those arrested in Boston claim allegiance to the Occupy Boston group, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York last month.

Occupy Wall Street is a loosely organized, grass-roots movement that has held protests and sit-ins in various American cities. Demonstrators protest a variety of issues, including corporate greed and economic inequality.

In Washington, demonstrators protesting capitalism and U.S. wars abroad have occupied the Freedom Plaza, just blocks from the White House, and McPherson Square, downtown.

The permit for the group in Freedom Plaza to gather there expired Monday, but protesters say the National Park Service, which grants permits for the use of federal land, agreed to extend it for four months.