Police officers clash with protesters affiliated with Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park on November 17, 2011 in New York City. The day has been marked by sporadic violence, arrests, and injuries sustained by both protestors and police. Protesters attempted to shut down the New York Stock Exchange today, blocking roads and tying up traffic in Lower Manhattan. ( Andrew Burton/Getty Images ) 
 
 By Mathew Katz, Serena Solomon, Julie Shapiro, Jill Colvin, Nicole Bode, Ben Fractenberg, Carla Zanoni, Tom Liddy and Leslie Albrecht 
 
 DNAinfo Staff 
 
 
 
 MANHATTAN — Tensions between cops and Occupy Wall Street protesters boiled over in Zuccotti Park Thursday afternoon following a failed morning attempt to shut down the New York Stock Exchange — part of a "Day of Action" to mark the movement's two-month anniversary that included thousands marching on the Brooklyn Bridge. 
 
 The clashes came after more than 100 protesters were arrested as throngs from the anti-greed group surrounded the stock exchange chanting "Wall Street's closed." 
 
 A total of 242 protesters had been arrested by Thursday afternoon, including five for assault, police said. Ten were injured in the process, including one with a head wound. 
 
 "Some people were intent on being arrested. There's no question about that. It's part of the tactic and strategy," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who added that he was "pleased" with the performance of his officers. 
 
 Seven police officers were injured during the mass protests, including five cops who had a liquid, possibly vinegar, tossed in their faces, Mayor Bloomberg said during a press conference at Bellevue Hospital, where one of the injured cops were being treated. 
 
 Two officers were struck by objects thrown by protesters, including one, Matthew Walters, 24, who received 20 stitches in his left hand when he tried to deflect a star-shaped glass object that had been thrown at him. 
 
 Another cop was treated and released for a hand injury. All of the officers were hospitalized but none was seriously hurt. 
 
 "We will ensure that everyone has a right to execute their First Amendment Rights," said the mayor, adding that most protesters "have acted responsibly." "But make no mistake about it, if anyone's actions cross the line, and jeopardize the health and safety of the first responders, we will act accordingly." 
 
 Cops also confiscated a dozen metal devices that could have been used by protesters to lock themselves to objects, but none were used. 
 
 Just before 2 p.m., police closed the exits to Zuccotti Park, which was jammed with protesters, sparking a fight for control of the barricades surrounding the plaza — the movement's lower Manhattan base until the space was cleared Tuesday morning in a pre-dawn raid. 
 
 Shortly before that, 30 or 40 cops surged into the park, but protesters surrounded the officers and started yelling. Police then pushed some protesters to the ground and hit others with batons. 
 
 About 50 cops then stormed into the park, moving demonstrators from one side to the other while protesters pushed back. Cops stood in a circle in the center of the park while the group chanted, "This is a non-violent protest." 
 
 In the melee, a man was seen laying on the ground bleeding from the head. Police said that the man, Brandon Watts, 20, tossed batteries and pieces of a plastic pen at police officers. He also allegedly stole a deputy inspector's hat. 
 
 Watts then tried to shove metal barricades at the officers, who tackled him to the ground as he kicked at them, police said. The suspect, who hit his head on the ground, was treated and Bellevue Hospital and released. He was charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest and grand larceny, police said. 
 
 The scuffle came just hours before a series of other actions including small protests on the subway in the afternoon and students rallying in Union Square and at Hunter College and a planned march on the Brooklyn Bridge, where more than 700 protesters were arrested in October. 
 
 In Foley Square, ahead of the march to the bridge, thousands of protesters were joined by members of the Service Employees International Union and some 200 Verizon workers chanting "we are the 99 percent" and "this is what a police state looks like." Also among the throng were rappers Fab 5 Freddy and KRS ONE. 
 
 As the group streamed through Lower Manhattan, funneled by police barricade, several protesters who had already gathered at the foot of the bridge were arrested, including City Councilman Jumaane Williams, according to his Twitter account. According to a witness, about 100 demonstrators wearing white shirts sat down and linked arms before being taken into custody. 
 
 As protesters marched across the bridge chanting "Whose bridge? Our bridge?" cars honked their horns in support. Cheers erupted as a giant "99%" symbol was projected onto the Verizon building, near the base of the bridge. 
 
 Earlier in the day, protesters said they thought their actions had delayed the stock exchange's opening bell, but an NYSE spokesman said trading started on time at 9:30 a.m. "For us, it's business as usual," said NYSE spokesman Ray Pellechia. 
 
 But at Zuccotti Park demonstrators rang cow bells and climbed trees to celebrate their attempt to shut down the global trading hub. 
 
 "I think it was a success," said 26-year-old Karen Jenson, a Wyoming resident who's been participating in the Occupy Wall Street protests for the past five weeks. "I was not overwhelmed with our success, but I felt like we were humble about it." 
 
 Outside the stock exchange, some of the thousands of protesters that amassed formed a human chain to block workers from heading toward the financial center, sparking a clash with police. During the scuffle cops were seen repeatedly hitting a protester with a nightstick near Broad and Beaver streets. 
 
 A protester in a wheelchair joyfully recounted how cops arrested her near William Street as demonstrators linked arms and refused police orders to disperse. 
 
 "They asked me if I really wanted to be arrested," said 63-year-old Nadina LaStina, who uses a wheelchair because of a childhood bout with polio. "I said, that's why I'm here, so they arrested me." 
 
 But police weren't able to load LaStina and her wheelchair into a paddy wagon to central booking with other arrested protesters. Instead took her mugshot in the street and handed her a summons for disorderly conduct on the spot. 
 
 "It was extremely important to me as a disabled person," said LaStina of her arrest. "I am very angry. I want our democracy back." 
 
 Many angry commuters were caught up in the fracas as they tried to make their way to work. 
 
 "These a--holes need to get a job and stop keeping us from ours," said Jenn Bobics, 42, who works at an investment firm. "I can't get to work now, or at least I don't know how to." 
 
 A 23-year-old security guard on her way to work from Queens called the protest "ridiculous." 
 
 "I have to get to work," said Shareema Williams. 
 
 Police had barricaded Wall Street at Broadway only allowing those with employee IDs to pass. They also closed Hanover and Pine streets, as well as Thames Street from Nassau Street to Broadway, and Nassau Street from just south of Cedar to Wall Street. 
 
 Cops in riot gear tried to keep protesters on the sidewalk, but their swelling numbers caused many of them to spill into the street. At least eight police officers were stationed in front of Wall Street's famous bronze bull sculpture. 
 
 Marchers heckled Wall Street workers as they showed up for work, shouting, "Get your corporate ID out, this is a police state" and "God Bless America." 
 
 Tylee Robinson, a 23-year-old actor, tried to sneak past a police barricade wearing a suit and tie and carrying a fake corporate ID. "I'm prepared to get arrested, I'm prepared to get beaten," he said. 
 
 But he drew the line at being the first to jump barricades. "I would follow someone else jumping over the barricade, but I wouldn't lead it," he said. 
 
 Some protesters said it was Tuesday's police raid at Zuccotti Park that inspired them to join the day's events. 
 
 Among them was Alison Bell, a 54-year-old lawyer from Stowe, Vt., who was with her 20-year-old son, Cameron, in Zuccotti Park. 
 
 "I participated in these sorts of things at [my son's] age. It makes me hopeful for the first time in a long time," Bell said. 
 
 "We want a big show of support from people who haven't been here before like me, and people who've been here from the beginning." ||||| By Ben Fractenberg, Julie Shapiro, Sonja Sharp, Carla Zanoni, Della Hasselle and Caroline Jumpertz 
 
 DNAinfo Staff 
 
 LOWER MANHATTAN — Hundreds of protesters reentered Zuccotti Park Tuesday evening, determined to reclaim the birthplace of the Occupy Wall Street movement, despite losing a major legal battle with the city. 
 
 Cheers and cries of victory coud be heard as the protesters trickled back into the park through checkpoints under the watchful eye of the NYPD, which had kicked them out of the park 16 hours earlier. 
 
 "It feels like our own little part of history," said Lee Debo, 44, of the Bronx. "I still have some worries about what's going to happen coming down the road, but it feels good for the common man to prevail." 
 
 The protesters had surrounded the park Tuesday afternoon in anticipation of a judge's ruling about whether they would be allowed back into the space where they'd been encamped for nearly two months. The judge said they could return, provided they didn't bring their sleeping bags and tents with them. They were also instructed not to lie down on the benches and ground and were barred from storing personal property there. 
 
 The rules would be enforced by employees of Brookfield Properties, which owns Zuccotti Park, with the assistance of the NYPD, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told NY1. Those who did not comply with the rules, which were posted on new signs around the park, were subject to arrest, he said. 
 
 Musical instruments, particularly drums, which had tormented Occupy Wall Street's neighbors for weeks, weren't explicitly banned under park rules, but several protesters said they were told by cops they couldn't bring their instruments in. 
 
 Nevertheless, more than 1,000 protesters flowed back into the park, and some were planning to spend the night. 
 
 "I'm staying because it's awesome that we're still here after all the madness," said Jack Amico, 23, an artist from Staten Island. 
 
 Mark Wood, 52, from upstate New York, was also planning to stay. 
 
 "We are half back," he said. "[The eviction] backfired on them. I'm concerned about what the government is going to do to us next. Are they going to take the shoes and coats away?" 
 
 The NYPD evicted the Occupy Wall Street protesters during a 1 a.m. raid that resulted in roughly 200 arrests. The plan had been put together well in advance of the predawn action. Sources said hundreds of cops who were ending their normal shift Monday night were told to head to lower Manhattan and get into riot gear. 
 
 Several journalists were arrested during the ensuing scrum between cops and protesters, including two from DNAinfo.com. News Editor Patrick Hedlund was arrested early Tuesday morning. A freelance photographer on assignment for DNAinfo.com, Paul Lomax, was arrested covering protests at Duarte Square in SoHo. Both journalists were released later Tuesday. 
 
 After Zuccotti Park was cleared, Dept. of Sanitation workers moved in and tore down the encampment's tents, tarps and protest signs. Protesters were told they could retrieve their belongings at a Hell's Kitchen Sanitation facility Tuesday afternoon, but they were turned away when they showed up. They were told to come back Wednesday. 
 
 Sunshine Simpson, 22, of North Carolina, stood outside Zuccotti Park Tuesday afternoon wearing a tie-died T-shirt and was bracing himself for a chilly night. He had lost lost most of his belongings (including his wallet, sleeping bag, journal and books) during the raid. 
 
 "I don't know what we're going to do, but I'm not going anywhere," said Simpson. "Because of this hardship we are going to grow tremendously." 
 
 The throng of protesters were informed of the judge's decision by the "human microphone," where one protester's words are repeated and amplified by the group so all can hear. There was an audible groan when the word came that the protesters wouldn't be allowed to take up residence again in Zuccotti Park. 
 
 "It's garbage," Mia Ragovino, 23, of Brooklyn, said of the decision. "Taking away the right to have tents and sleeping bags is shutting down the movement. The point is not to have a march every day, the point is to be here all the time every hour of every day. 
 
 "With the winter, how are we supposed to stay here without blankets and tents to protect us?" she said. 
 
 Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he sent in the NYPD after receiving a letter from Brookfield Properties requesting the city help in to clear the park so it could be cleaned. 
 
 "We have been in constant contact with Brookfield and yesterday they requested that the city assist it in enforcing the no sleeping and no camping rules in the park," Bloomberg said at a morning press conference. "But make no mistake — the final decision to act was mine." 
 
 Cops roused protesters just after 1 a.m. Tuesday and forced them to vacate the park. They distributed fliers that told the park needed to be cleared because the protesters had become a health and safety hazard. 
 
 "We lost the infrastructure. We lost the tents," said Liz Dalton, 45, of the Upper East Side, as a light drizzle fell over the protesters. "But, if anything, this forceful disruption has just ignited even more momentum." ||||| Mary Altaffer/Associated Press Guards try to wake a man sleeping in Zuccotti Park on Wednesday. 
 
 The newly homeless Occupy Wall Street activists on Thursday plan a citywide day of demonstrations, an event that will test both the movement's resilience following its eviction from Zuccotti Park and the city's ability to deal with the decentralized protests. 
 
 Protesters plan to start early. At 7 a.m., some say they'll try to march on Wall Street and disrupt the beginning of the work day. So far, a heavy police presence and a warren of barricades have kept protesters from holding serious protests on Wall Street. Others will gather in Zuccotti Park. 
 
 WSJ's Jess Firger updates from the Occupy Wall Street protests, where protesters are being arrested after clashes with police. The end of the day suggests a heightening of protesting activities, with plans to march over the Brooklyn Bridge, she reports on Markets Hub. Photo: AP. 
 
 In the afternoon, they're urging people to gather at transit hubs in each of the five boroughs. They've also called for student walkouts. 
 
 Then, protesters plan to take trains to Foley Square, in Lower Manhattan. While on the subway, groups will talk about economic inequality, one organizer said. 
 
 At Foley Square, plans call for a large rally that is being backed by some of the city's largest unions, one of which has obtained a permit for the rally. Protesters then plan to march across the Brooklyn Bridge's pedestrian path. The events are tied to the Occupy Wall Street movement's two-month anniversary. 
 
 It's not clear how disruptive demonstrators plan to be, or what kind of police response they'll face. City officials on Wednesday said they're expecting problems and police are prepared to handle them. 
 
 Following the Occupy Wall Street Protests See key dates since the Occupy Wall Street protests began. View Interactive More photos and interactive graphics 
 
 "Everything that we have seen and heard suggests that we may have tens of thousands of people tomorrow protesting," Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson told reporters on Wednesday. "The protesters are calling for a massive event aimed at disrupting major parts of the city." 
 
 Paul Browne, an NYPD spokesman, declined to comment on any police department plans for policing the various protests on Thursday. "We don't talk about police tactics in advance," he said. 
 
 After protesters were evicted from Zuccotti Park early Tuesday morning it's not clear if the demonstrations will end or if they'll enter a new phase. WSJ's Hilke Schellmann reports from downtown Manhattan. 
 
 A police officer who works in a nonpatrol position in a Manhattan precinct said he has been ordered to report to duty policing the Occupy Wall Street protest at 4 a.m. Thursday. The officer, who asked not to be identified, said he has been told to muster at Broadway and Exchange Place and to bring "hats and bats," terms for riot helmets and batons. He said he didn't know exactly how many officers like him have been ordered to the detail but supposed if they're pressing him into action, "it will be a lot." 
 
 Mr. Browne said that in general the protest has been peaceful but that there's been "a small group" of troublemakers. 
 
 "Our kind of overall posture has not changed," Mr. Browne said. "We'll continue to accommodate peaceful protest." 
 
 One widely circulated video showed a man outside Zuccotti Park on Tuesday yelling that protesters were going to burn New York City to the ground and "you're going to see what a Molotov cocktail can do to Macy's." At about 5 p.m. on Wednesday at Zuccotti Park, police arrested Nkrumah Tinsely, 29, of the Bronx and charged him with making terroristic threats. He was awaiting arraignment last night. 
 
 With a few exceptions, most of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations haven't had much impact on commuters or the basic functioning of New York City beyond a few relatively small areas, like Wall Street and Zuccotti Park. 
 
 The park was barricaded Wednesday, with police and private security guards manning checkpoints to keep protesters from re-establishing the camp that was dismantled early Tuesday in a surprise police raid. 
 
 A few demonstrators gathered inside, but most of the construction workers and office workers who used to frequent the park stayed away. Many protesters were elsewhere, too, recovering after the drama and confusion that followed their eviction from the park. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Justin Lane/European Pressphoto Agency A woman makes a sign near the park where protests had been based. 
 
 Some volunteers were working to help the movement regroup. Bill Mills, a 20-year-old from New Jersey, was at the United Federation of Teachers space where Occupy Wall Street has been storing its cache of donated supplies. He fielded requests from protesters who came looking for gear such as pants, umbrellas and food. 
 
 He said he thinks the sweep of Zuccotti Park will make the protests stronger by stripping away the people who came only for fun and free food, not activism. 
 
 " Michael Bloomberg is my hero," Mr. Mills said. "He catapulted us out of all this lethargy. He threw out all the drunks, all the hypocrites, all the liars, all the people who were here for a little bit of fun, and brought us down to the people who are smart enough to get things done and really have something invested in this." 
 
 —Alison Fox, Sean Gardiner 
 
 and Sophia Hollander contributed to this article. 
 
 Write to Andrew Grossman at andrew.grossman@wsj.com
– Days after being removed from Zuccotti Park, Occupy Wall Street is launching its biggest day of protests yet, and the arrests are already piling up: Daily Intel reports that about 60 people have been arrested after clashing with police in their attempt to reach the New York Stock Exchange. Thousands marched toward the NYSE shortly after 7:30am in an attempt to block it on the movement’s two-month anniversary. Protesters chanted "Get your corporate ID out. This is a police state" and "God Bless America" at Wall Street workers as they passed through police checkpoints, notes DNAInfo. Though some workers had difficulty getting in, the stock exchange opened at 9:30am per usual; protesters rang a "people's bell" outside. Later in the day, protesters plan to head to subway stations to “listen to a singular story from one of our hardest-hit and most inspirational neighbors,” fliers for the event say. Next, it’s a march to Manhattan’s Foley Square, where a protest is backed by major unions; then on to local bridges to “demand that we get back to work rebuilding our country's infrastructure.” Officials say they expect “tens of thousands” of protesters. Police plan to bring “hats and bats”—riot gear—to the events, one tells the Wall Street Journal. Still, “we'll continue to accommodate peaceful protest,” says a rep for the NYPD.