CHICAGO ? Anti-Wall Street demonstrators of the Occupy Chicago movement stood their ground in a downtown park in noisy but peaceful defiance of police orders to clear out, prompting at least 100 arrests early Sunday, authorities said.
Occupy Chicago spokesman Joshua Kaunert vowed after the arrests that protests would continue in the Midwest city.
Continue Reading?We?re not going anywhere. There are still plenty of us,? Kaunert told the Associated Press after the arrests.
Elsewhere in the nation, police reported 11 arrests overnight in the Occupy Cincinnati protests. Police said those arrested had stayed in that city?s Fountain Square after Sunday?s 3 a.m. closing time and each was charged with criminal trespass.
In Chicago, police began taking people into custody just before 1 a.m. Sunday. Those arrested were led in groups to vans and two large white buses as others clamored to be arrested.
?Take me next! Take me next!? some shouted as police began the arrests. Others chanted as they were led away: ?We?ll be back!?
Officers had begun placing metal barricades around the area of Chicago?s Grant Park known as Congress Plaza about 11:10 p.m. Saturday, minutes after the park had closed. Afterward, police then went through the crowd and warned people to leave or risk arrest for remaining in the closed park in violation of a city ordinance.
Several of the protesters who stayed inside the barricades in the park sat on the ground. Others locked arms as police circled and then began arresting people.
?One: We are the people! Two: We are united! Three: The occupation is not leaving!? demonstrators shouted. Others joined in from just outside the park.
Police said they made approximately 100 arrests early Sunday but did not have an exact count. Kaunert said he expected the final figure to be higher after some late arrests but police did not immediate return later calls for details.
Kaunert said none of those arrested had resisted.
?Everybody was very peaceful and smiling and there was no violence, though a lot of chanting,? he said.
He urged authorities to let the people resume protesting peacefully against the perceived greed and other ills they see on Wall Street and elsewhere in corporate America. He noted it was the second straight weekend that arrests had been made in the park after 175 arrests the previous Sunday after protesters set up tents past public hours.
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