Occupy supporters differ on direction

Associated Press

NEW YORK

A day after police broke up a rally at Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park and arrested dozens, Occupy Wall Street protesters said Sunday that their movement for economic justice would pick up momentum with the spring.

Activists listed issues including student debt, the environment and the November elections as priorities going forward. But some observers who watched workers hose down the now-barricaded park that was Occupy’s home wondered whether a movement so diffuse could accomplish anything.

“I’m really grateful to be part of a generation that wants change, ’cause we should all want change,” said Jennifer Campbell, a graduate student in documentary filmmaking at Hofstra University. “But I’m not sure what that change is, or if they know what that change is.”

The crackdown at Zuccotti happened late Saturday after hundreds of activists had gathered to mark the sixth-month anniversary of the movement.

Detective Brian Sessa of the NYPD said protesters had started breaking park rules against setting up tents and tarps.

Police said 73 people were detained. It was unclear how many were still in custody Sunday.

Occupy activists said the officers moved in with little warning and beat some protesters. Police said Sunday they had no information about any protesters’ being injured.

According to Mother Jones magazine, 10 candidates for House and Senate seats in the November elections have made Occupy part of their campaigns. They include Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren and Hakeem Jeffries, who is running for Congress in Brooklyn. But some Occupy supporters consider themselves anarchists who abjure electoral politics.