2 Arrested in Occupy Protests

Protesters block traffic along Walnut Street before moving protest

Dozens of protesters blocked a Center City street Tuesday afternoon causing traffic nightmares for drivers and landing some protesters in jail.

Occupy Philly held the protest at the Wells Fargo Bank on Walnut Street near 17th Street as part of the May Day (a.k.a. International Workers' Day) protests in honor of the labor movement.

The protest, which began around 9 a.m., only really started to cause problems around 1:30 p.m. as some protesters began to sit down in the middle of the street, blocking traffic.

Crews on the scene estimated the crowd of protesters to be around 100. As of 1:50 p.m. no arrests had been made, police said.

A little after 2 p.m. Philadelphia Police made the call to have all major arrest units on alert in case they needed to start making arrests.

A short while later an NBC10 cameraman on the scene says he saw a protester throw a drink -- possibly coffee -- on an officer. The NBC employee also saw police take two people into custody.

Police didn't immediately confirm any arrests but later did say that two people were arrested.

As of 2:20 p.m. the protesters had blocked the entire width of Walnut Street. Around the same time traffic was slowed along nearby streets including 18th and Chestnut Streets.

Just before 2:30 p.m. the protesters got up and began to march between traffic on 16th Street and then moved to other streets including Market Street.

As of 2:45 p.m. the protesters seemingly dispersed but the police presence continued and so did the protests it turned out.

As of 3:30 p.m. the protesters were heading south of 17th Street, according to NBC10's Lu Ann Cahn who was on the scene.

By 4:30 p.m. many protesters were gathered in Rittenhouse Square.

They were expected to move on to the School Reform Commission meeting starting around 5:30, Cahn said.

Ultimately police say they've arrested two protesters. One person is charged with assault on police while the other is charged with disorderly conduct.


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