PORTLAND, Ore. — Dozens of anti-Wall Street demonstrators were arrested Sunday in Texas, where they clashed with police over food tables, and in Oregon, where officers dragged them out of a park in an affluent neighborhood. In New York and many other East Coast cities, a snowstorm made it difficult for demonstrators to stay camped out in public places.
The Occupy movement, which began six weeks ago in lower Manhattan to decry corporate influence in government and wealth inequality, has spread to cities large and small across the country and around the world. Demonstrators have spent weeks camped in parks, wearing on the patience of city officials — even those who have expressed some level of support for their cause.
In Portland, Ore., police have allowed protesters to sleep in two parks surrounded by office buildings despite policies outlawing camping, but Mayor Sam Adams warned demonstrators last week that he would not allow them to take over any more parks.
Late Saturday, hundreds of protesters gathered in another park — Jamison Square in the wealthy Pearl District — and defied a midnight curfew.
About 30 people who had decided to risk arrest sat on the ground as other protesters walked around them and chanted “Whose park? Our park!” and “Make no arrests.” When police moved in at about 2 a.m., all but the sitting protesters backed off. An Associated Press photographer said most of those protesters went limp and were carried or dragged away by police.
Police said the arrests were made on charges that included criminal trespassing, interfering with a police officer and disorderly conduct.
Police in Austin, Texas, made 39 arrests early Sunday as they moved to enforce a new rule banning food tables in the City Hall plaza where protesters have camped out.
Most were charged with criminal trespass, said Police Chief Art Acevedo. No injuries were reported.
Protesters in California, Georgia and Colorado also have been arrested over the past several days.
In Denver
