NEW YORK — Protesters from the Occupy Wall Street movement clashed with officers from the New York Police Department over the weekend in the lead-up to the anti-capitalist movement’s first anniversary, to be marked Monday.
Estimates from the liberal National Lawyers Guild (NLG) put the number of arrests at approximately 51 between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon.
Police arrested roughly 13 activists near City Hall, 15 others during a march from Washington Square to Zuccotti Park and 17 more near Trinity Church.
A spokesperson from the NLG told The Daily Caller that about 17 protesters were due for arraignment Sunday.
Occupy protesters told TheDC that police used excessive force and inflicted physical damage, including dislocating one protester’s shoulder. (RELATED: Wall Street ‘occupiers’ prepare for possible NYPD hostility)
Neither the NLG nor the NYPD would confirm that injury.
During the middle of a clash near Trinity Church Saturday evening, one enraged protester told TheDC that when his friend was snared in a police round-up during the march to nearby Zuccotti Park, no other activists came to help him. Another said protesters’ sleeping bags were being taken from them.
TheDC witnessed police knocking an elderly protester to the ground after he talked back to them. His eyeglasses were broken in the process.