Outcry as 84-year-old hit with pepper spray Protesters slam police tactics after an Occupy Seattle rally turns briefly chaotic.Pregnant teen sent to hospital

SEATTLE (AP) — A downtown march and rally in support of theOccupy Wall Street movement turned briefly chaotic as police scattered a crowd of rowdy protesters — including a pregnant 19-year-old and an 84-year-old activist — with blasts of pepper spray.

Protest organizers denounced the use of force, saying that police indiscriminately sprayed the chemical irritant at peaceful protesters.

The Occupy Seattle movement released a written statement late Tuesday expressing support for "a 4-foot 10-inch, 84-year-old woman, a priest and a pregnant woman who as of this writing is still in the hospital."

Dorli Rainey is an activist who has supported liberal causes in the Seattle area for decades. A photo showing Rainey being cared for by fellow activists in the immediate aftermath of the police incident appeared on news websites around the world.

Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel said he didn't have specifics on the Rainey incident, but he said pepper spray is "is not age specific. No more dangerous to someone who is 10 or someone who is 80."

He added, that if it were harmful, "we probably wouldn't be using pepper spray if that was the case."

Kappel said police had not yet established whether a pregnant woman was involved.

Paramedics examined a handful of people, including a 19-year-old woman who was three-months pregnant, Seattle fire department spokesman Kyle Moore said. The Seattle Times reported on its website that the woman was taken by ambulance to Harborview Medical Center.

Her identity and status were not immediately available.

Moore added that the protester's own medical response team had taken care of others.

"These protesters are well organized, they're using homemade remedies to counter pepper spray," he said.

Seattle police said plenty of verbal warnings were given to demonstrators attempting to block intersections and streets during rush hour.

"Pepper spray was deployed only against subjects who were either refusing a lawful order to disperse or engaging in assaultive behavior toward officers," Kappel wrote on the department's blog.

Kappel also noted that one man threw an "unknown liquid" at an officer's face and was arrested. The officer was not injured.

In another incident, Kappel said a 17-year-old woman swung a stick at an officer, and as police moved to arrest her, others tried to intervene on her behalf, prompting a blast of pepper spray.

Authorities arrested at least six people before quickly restoring order.

Occupy Seattle organizers said the downtown march was in solidarity with other Occupy Wall Street protests around the nation.

The skirmish Tuesday was the first clash in weeks.

Occupy Seattle moved its encampment to Seattle Central Community College late October. Before that, the group had been camping at Westlake Park, leading to tense standoffs with police and dozens of arrests.

eattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo - A woman who gave her name as Jennifer and said she was two months pregnant is rushed to an ambulance after being hit with pepper spray at an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, …more

Quote:

Pregnant teen, elderly woman among pepper sprayed

Outcry as 84-year-old hit with pepper spray Protesters slam police tactics after an Occupy Seattle rally turns briefly chaotic.Pregnant teen sent to hospital

SEATTLE (AP) — A downtown march and rally in support of theOccupy Wall Street movement turned briefly chaotic as police scattered a crowd of rowdy protesters — including a pregnant 19-year-old and an 84-year-old activist — with blasts of pepper spray.

Protest organizers denounced the use of force, saying that police indiscriminately sprayed the chemical irritant at peaceful protesters.

The Occupy Seattle movement released a written statement late Tuesday expressing support for "a 4-foot 10-inch, 84-year-old woman, a priest and a pregnant woman who as of this writing is still in the hospital."

Dorli Rainey is an activist who has supported liberal causes in the Seattle area for decades. A photo showing Rainey being cared for by fellow activists in the immediate aftermath of the police incident appeared on news websites around the world.

Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel said he didn't have specifics on the Rainey incident, but he said pepper spray is "is not age specific. No more dangerous to someone who is 10 or someone who is 80."

He added, that if it were harmful, "we probably wouldn't be using pepper spray if that was the case."

Kappel said police had not yet established whether a pregnant woman was involved.

Paramedics examined a handful of people, including a 19-year-old woman who was three-months pregnant, Seattle fire department spokesman Kyle Moore said. The Seattle Times reported on its website that the woman was taken by ambulance to Harborview Medical Center.

Her identity and status were not immediately available.

Moore added that the protester's own medical response team had taken care of others.

"These protesters are well organized, they're using homemade remedies to counter pepper spray," he said.

Seattle police said plenty of verbal warnings were given to demonstrators attempting to block intersections and streets during rush hour.

"Pepper spray was deployed only against subjects who were either refusing a lawful order to disperse or engaging in assaultive behavior toward officers," Kappel wrote on the department's blog.

Kappel also noted that one man threw an "unknown liquid" at an officer's face and was arrested. The officer was not injured.

In another incident, Kappel said a 17-year-old woman swung a stick at an officer, and as police moved to arrest her, others tried to intervene on her behalf, prompting a blast of pepper spray.

Authorities arrested at least six people before quickly restoring order.

Occupy Seattle organizers said the downtown march was in solidarity with other Occupy Wall Street protests around the nation.

The skirmish Tuesday was the first clash in weeks.

Occupy Seattle moved its encampment to Seattle Central Community College late October. Before that, the group had been camping at Westlake Park, leading to tense standoffs with police and dozens of arrests.

eattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo - A woman who gave her name as Jennifer and said she was two months pregnant is rushed to an ambulance after being hit with pepper spray at an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, …more

Watch video here

Quote:
Thank you Pat, meanwhile I am posting newer material on OWS-related incidents today...

Occupy protesters arrested in NYC finance district

By KAREN MATTHEWS | AP – 3 hrs ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Police arrested protesters who sat on the ground and blocked traffic into New York City's financial districton Thursday, part of a day of mass gatherings in response to efforts to break up Occupy Wall Street camps nationwide.

Police in riot helmets hauled several protesters to their feet and handcuffed them at an intersection one block from Wall Street.

"All day, all week, shut down Wall Street!" the crowd chanted.

Hundreds of protesters thronged intersections around the financial district, an area of narrow, crooked streets running between stately sandstone buildings housing banks, brokerage houses and the New York Stock Exchange.

After several arrests along one street, protesters retreated. A line of riot police followed them and set up metal barricades.

"You do not have a parade permit! You are blocking the street!" a police officer told protesters through a bullhorn.

A few blocks away, a separate group of about 50 protesters sat in a circle on the ground and said they would not budge.

The congestion brought taxis and delivery trucks to a halt. Police were allowing Wall Street workers through the barricades, but only after checking their IDs.

The protest marked two months since the Occupy Wall Street Movement sprang to life on Sept. 17 with a failed attempt to pitch a protest camp in front of the New York Stock Exchange. After police kept them out of Wall Street, the protesters pitched a camp in nearby Zuccotti Park, across from the World Trade Center site.

On Tuesday police raided Zuccotti Park and cleared out dozens of tents, tarps and sleeping bags.

"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 with other protesters 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."

Similar protests were planned around the county.

In Dallas, police evicted dozens of protesters from their campsite near City Hall citing public safety and hygiene issues. They arrested 18 protesters who refused to leave.

Organizers in New York said protesters would fan out across Manhattan later on Thursday and head to subways, then gather downtown and march over the Brooklyn bridge.

Passer-by Gene Williams, a 57-year-old bond trader, joked that he was "one of the bad guys" but that he empathized with the demonstrators.

"They have a point in a lot of ways," he said. "The fact of the matter is, there is a schism between the rich and the poor and it's getting wider."

New York City officials said they had not spoken to demonstrators but were aware of the plans.

"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."