Live Blog: Occupy Wall Street's Massive Day of Action, Hundreds of Arrests Reported

Photo Credit: edenpictures on Flickr

Today, it has been two months since protesters began occupying New York City's Zuccotti Park and two days since the NYPD violently evicted them. In celebration of the former -- and in defiance of the latter -- Occupy Wall Street protesters are gathering around New York City today for a massive day of action. Read this piece by AlterNet's Sarah Jaffe for a preview of what we might see today, and look for updates below. You can find a full schedule of today's actions at the bottom of the page. And click here for live footage of today's actions.

8:40pm: The Nation's Richard Kim tweets that the GA is back in Liberty Plaza/Zuccotti Park with a lively-looking photo to demonstrate it! Speaking of pictures, here are some more of the 99% projection on the Verizon building.

8:10pm: The protesters continue to stream across the bridge. "Cops rolling up net by #brooklynbridge entrance and opening up traffic," tweets our own Kristen Gwynne. Many are assembling in Cadman Plaza across the bridge in Brooklyn, celebrating a day of "success." On local TV station NY1, the newscast has certainly been dominated by news of the "day of action"--even weather and traffic.

7:55pm: Here's an aerial shot of the Brooklyn Bridge. The pedestrian walkway appears to be jammed with protesters across the entire span.

7:05pm: This is unconfirmed, but if it's accurate, it's pretty amazing: "NYPD police scanner: Police have an estimate of 32,650 protesters on the ground." Wow.

Meanwhile, cheers just went out on the livestream, as the police supposedly opened up the bridge to more marchers.

6:52pm: AlterNet's Nick Turse appears to have made it onto the bridge, and sends us this video of a "We Are the 99%" projection on the Verizon building:

6:42pm: On the UStream livefeed, we hear that there are people who appear to be civilians in matching white shirts blocking a group of protesters from the bridge.

6:36pm: CNN showing footage of protesters streaming across the pedestrian section of the Brooklyn Bridge.

6:21pm: Democracy Now! reporter Ryan Devereaux tweets, "99 demonstrators-including NYC city council members & union leaders-who seated themselves in the street at the BK bridge being arrested."

6:08pm: Protesters are heading from Foley Square to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Meanwhile, New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams tweets that he's been arrested: "I have just been #handcuffed & #arrested by the #NYPD, practicing #civildisobedience with #OccupyWallStreet & the #99percent."

5:55pm: There are a lot of numbers flying around, but 10,000 seems to be a pretty widely accepted headcount.

5:23pm: The crowd is growing rapidly at Foley Square, where thousands of protesters and labor supporters are gathering for a rally that is supposed to end with a march over the Brooklyn Bridge. Here's aerial footage, via NBC 5 New York. And here's an image, via ThinkProgress:

5:00pm: SEIU reports that around 1,000 protesters in Chicago are beginning to march right now; estimates that the crowd in Boston has now reached about 2,000.

4:57pm: According to reports coming in on Twitter, MLK bridge in St Louis has been shut down by protesters for the past hour.

4:45pm: All eyes are rightfully on New York, but, as the SEIU blog notes, actions are taking place across the country. There is a major rally in LA; protesters in DC have reportedly 'occupied' the Key bridge and protesters in Portland were arrested after shutting down the Steel Bridge.

4:12 pm Organizers tell AlterNet that the "occupy the subway" actions planned for this afternoon do not and never have included any efforts to obstruct riders or delay trains, as Mayor Bloomberg has claimed. In fact, the plan is simply to pass out flyers around the entrances to the subways. Organizers say Bloomberg's claim is intended to "smear the movement," and note that many media outlets have uncritically repeated it.