US Police arrest 62 Occupy protesters protesters
US: Police arrested 62 protesters Wednesday as supporters of Occupy
Wall Street targeted lobbyists who promote the interests of corporate
America in Washington’s corridors of power. Undeterred by steady rain,
more than 1,000 marchers -- many of them labor-union activists -- shut
down several blocks of K Street, epicenter of the US capital's
influential and lucrative lobbying industry, around midday.
Police, including a trio on horseback, intervened when several dozen
protesters sat or lay down on the wet pavement at 14th and K streets and
refused to budge when threatened with arrest for obstructing a public
highway.
“This really speaks well of America,” one of the rain-soaked
protesters, Kelly Caldwell of Portland, Oregon, yelled sarcastically as
police officers in long yellow coats put him in handcuffs and dragged
him into a waiting van.
Sixty-two people were arrested, a spokesman for Washington's
Metropolitan Police told AFP. Details of the charges they faced were not
immediately available.
Wednesday's shutdown of K Street came a day after demonstrators
backed by labor unions and civic groups occupied Congressional and
Senate offices on Capitol Hill as part of a three-day Take Back the
Capitol action. Washington is home to two separate open-ended protest
encampments, both near the White House, inspired by Occupy Wall Street
and condemning social inequality and corporate influence on US politics.
Joining them this week has been a self-styled People's Camp on the
National Mall, made up of about 15 tents -- in clear view of the Capitol
-- erected by protesters from different corners of the United States.â
Prominent in the Take Back the Capitol protest is the Service
Employees Union International (SEIU), which represents health and public
sector employees and is endorsing President Barack Obama for another
term in office. AFP |