Over 50 'occupiers' cuffed in Union Sq. chaos

Over 50 'occupiers' cuffed in Union Sq. chaos:

The one-week Wall Street protest took a violent turn today, with a near-riot breaking out between marchers and the police.

The chaos erupted during an afternoon march of about 500 demonstrators to Union Square as part of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Cops were seen making arrests, herding protesters onto a bus, and in one case, getting into a fistfight with one of the demonstrators. “Police are going to suppress anything that challenges the status quo,” complained college student Moses Appleton, 24, who made the pilgrimage from Virginia Beach. A police source said protesters had no permit to march, and extra cops were called in to get the crowd under control.

Cops confirmed several arrests but said a final tally wasn't immediately available. Protesters claimed 55 people were arrested. Organizers took to Twitter to give a blow-by-blow account of the mayhem, claiming that cops were pepper-spraying women, with at least five being maced in the face. Protesters, based in Zuccotti Park, first pitched their tents Sept. 17.

As they marched, they chanted “Banks got bailed out — we got sold out!” The two-month occupation, pushed by left-leaning groups such as Adbusters, claims it seeks to “restore democracy in America.” Organizers boasted that 20,000 people would participate, but those numbers have yet to materialize.

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