Cities Brace For Occupy’s 'Day of Action'

Occupy participants beef up protests for two-month anniversary

Occupy demonstrators in various cities have stepped up protests as today marks the two-month anniversary of the Occupy movement. 

Dozens of protestors have already been arrested by midday near Wall Street in New York, while hundreds of protestors take over the financial district in Los Angeles, CBS News reports. 

CBS News station WCBS-TV reports that at least 75 protestors have been arrested as they crowded intersections near the New York Stock Exchange and banks.

According to CNN, New York protestors plan to shut down the subway system at 3 p.m., gather at Foley Square at 5 p.m. and march across the Brooklyn Bridge later this evening.

“I think we’re certainly going into this with our eyes wide open, but (the march is) to provoke ideas and discussion, not to provoke any violent reactions,” Occupy Wall Street spokesman Ed Needham told Reuters. “I think it is very difficult to do a day of action and not expect some sort of reaction from the [authorities].”

Nearly 500 Occupy protestors--mainly a coalition of labor unions--marched downtown in Los Angeles, gathered between the Bank of America and Wells Fargo Plaza, and chanted “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out.”

CBS News reports that Las Vegas protestors will pitch tents in front of federal buildings.  Police closed a bridge in Portland, Ore. to prepare for a march there.

"The protesters are calling for a massive event aimed at disrupting major parts of the city," Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson said. "We will be prepared for that."

On Tuesday, police raided Zucotti Park in New York and cleared sleeping bags and tents.

"This is a critical moment for the movement given what happened the other night," Paul Knick, 44, a software engineer from Montclair, N.J., said as he marched through the financial district in New York on Thursday. "It seems like there's a concerted effort to stop the movement and I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen."