Cops arrest 68 as Occupy Wall Street protesters try to ‘retake’ Zuccotti Park on New Year’s
Sixty-eight Occupy Wall Street protesters began the new year in custody, including one charged with grazing a cop with scissors.
The arrests came after protesters in Zuccotti Park pulled down the metal police barricades sealing off the public park and “retook” it while the NYPD’s focus and manpower was uptown at Times Square.
They danced on a giant mound of the barricades, waved signs and projected a message in light — “Whose year? Our year!!” — until police regrouped and shut them down.
Most of the 68 arrests were for disorderly conduct, though some protesters were also hit with charges of trespassing and obstructing governmental administration.
In the tussle, Zachary Miller, 28, of Berkeley, Calif., allegedly attacked a cop with a pair of scissors. He was charged with assaulting an officer.
The officer was treated at Bellevue Hospital. Protesters said the police responded by pepper spraying them