10/4/2011 - Over 700 Protesters Arrested On Brooklyn Bridge … Claim Entrapment

Source: Washington’s Blog
More Than 700 Arrested
Associated Press reports:

More than 700 protesters demonstrating against corporate greed, global warming and social inequality, among other grievances, were arrested Saturday after they swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours in a tense confrontation with police.

Some of the protesters claim they were entrapped, but the police deny this allegation. As AP notes:

Some of the protesters said they were lured onto the roadway by police, or they didn’t hear the calls from authorities to head to the pedestrian walkway. Police said no one was tricked into being arrested, and those in the back of the group who couldn’t hear were allowed to leave.
“Multiple warnings by police were given to protesters to stay on the pedestrian walkway and that if they took roadway they would be arrested,” said Paul Browne, the chief spokesman of the New York Police Department.

They point to videos of police allegedly “leading” protesters onto the roadway:

(More here.)

Harrassment of Journalists?
There are also reports that police arrested the people running the livestream feed of the protests. While this may fit with the theme of police harassing journalists, we cannot yet confirm this particular story.