Twenty anti-Wall Street protesters have been arrested in the US city of Denver after they refused to comply with a police order to remove tents pitched without a permit, The Denver Post reported Sunday. The newspaper said the police fired pepper spray and pepper balls at a crowd of protesters at the Civic Center as they moved against the Occupy Denver protesters.
Two of the protesters were held on felony charges after police said an officer was knocked off his motorcycle and other officers were kicked, the report said. Most others were charged with misdemeanours.
The confrontation occurred Saturday when police and state troopers pushed a group of marchers off the steps of the state Capitol, which is out-of-bounds to protesters without a permit, the paper noted. During the clash, about a dozen protesters stood nose-to-nose with police and screamed profanities or anti-Wall Street slogans at them, The Post said. Some arrests were reported in Nashville, Tennessee, but a local judge refused to jail the detained protesters, citing freedom of speech rights. All were let go.