NYPD Marks Occupy Wall Street Anniversary with Lots of Arrests

(AP) ADAM MARTIN

Update (3:40 p.m. EDT): The Wall Street Journal's Metropolis blog has an update on the arrest numbers of what it estimated was 1,000 protesters who gathered to mark the Occupy movement's first anniversary:

Police made 146 arrests by 3:30 p.m. Monday, mainly for disorderly conduct when protestors impeded vehicular or pedestrian traffic, NYPD chief spokesman Paul Browne said. Browne also confirmed 43 arrests were made over the weekend, including for disorderly conduct, assault and resisting arrest,.

Original: Compared to the protests at the height of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Monday's one-year anniversary action in New York's financial district is small, but the arrest count is comparatively high. According to the protesters' lawyer Gideon Oliver on Twitter, there were about 90 arrests as of about 10:30 a.m. Estimates of the crowd size have varied, but The New York Times and Agence France-Presseboth reported that about 200 people had massed at Zuccotti Park early Monday, and another 400 had gathered at the Vietnam Veterans memorial on Water Street. From video available on Gothamist and reports from other journalists on the scene, it looks like the protesters' numbers as they march through the Financial District are still in the hundreds — far fewer than the thousands that marched through the city on May Day or on November 17. Those days' arrest totals came to 30 and 200, respectively. From what we're hearing of Monday's demonstrations, the the chances of a protester being arrested is considerably higher today.

At least one of those arrested appears to be a local news journalist, according to Josh Sterns, a campaign director for the media advocacy group Free Press. One longtime Occupy activist who tweets under the handle Dicey Troop reported that the journalist was from the local news station WPIX, but we haven't been able to confirm that. Meanwhile artist Molly Crabapple tweets from the back of a police van that she's been arrested as well.

Protesters have been blocking intersections and briefly occupying bank lobbies in Lower Manhattan all morning, and they continue to march through the Financial District, according to the live stream from Tim Pool. "Cops threatened to arrest anyone who stepped off the sidewalk, and busted dozens of people — including several reporters, according to witnesses," the New York Daily News's Vera Chinese and Anthony Bartkewicz reported. "A crowd of about 50 barged into the lobby of the JPMorgan Chase building and demanded to speak to bank officials. About eight of them were arrested." One group of protesters in wheelchairs blocked Broadway for a while, per Buzzfeed's Rosie Gray, who snapped the below photo, but they apparently got arrested too.

Someone got arrested with hula hoops, which she can't take to jail, per CNBC's John Carney:

The cops were out in force, apparently outnumbering protesters, at least per this photo from Gloria Dawson:

If you're in the neighborhood or just want a better visual representation of the protests, Occupy published a map of their planned actions: