More than 700 anti-Wall Street protestors arrested

The "Occupy Wall Street" group inspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring movements had said on its website that "at least 50" protestors had been arrested

New York: More than 700 anti-Wall Street protestors were arrested in New York on Saturday when they blocked traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, forcing authorities to shut it down for hours, police said.

Anti-Wall Street activists first occupied a small park in lower Manhattan two weeks ago to protest corporate bailouts and corporate influence in politics, but took their demonstration to the bridge on Saturday. 

"More than 700 people were arrested. Most of them for disorderly conduct," a New York Police Department spokesman told AFP. Some were released after a few hours, while others would likely be held for a day or could receive a court summons, he said.

 Earlier, another NYPD spokesman said there were "several hundred protestors who decided to walk on the roadway and who blocked traffic. Some heeded the warnings, some left, and arrests were made."

The "Occupy Wall Street" group inspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring movements had said on its website that "at least 50" protestors had been arrested. Police shut down the Brooklyn Bridge "for a couple of hours" in the late afternoon, the NYPD said, adding that many protestors had remained on the bridge's.