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Occupy Wall Street Marches on Washington Square Park

By DNAinfo Staff on October 8, 2011 11:33am  | Updated on October 8, 2011 6:15pm

By Marina Lopes and Tom Liddy

DNAinfo Reporters

MANHATTAN — More than 1,000 Occupy Wall Street protesters marched on Washington Square Park Saturday afternoon — in a seemingly peaceful rally that appeared to avoid police clashes.

The group of anti-Wall Street protesters had been occupying a Lower Manhattan park for three weeks ahead of the hour-long protest in Greenwich Village.

"Liberty Square has grown exponentially over the last three weeks. It is time to form a second General Assembly in Manhattan," the loosely-organized group wrote on the website OccupyWallSt.org.

"On October eighth at three in the afternoon a General Assembly will convene in Washington Square Park.

Demonstrators streamed into the park around 3 p.m. after marching up West Broadway, shocking some who were already there.

"I am really impressed by it," said LIsa Chason, 51, an art teacher from upstate New Paltz, who brought her 16 year-old daughter to see the protesters.

"I heard on the news that they were a bunch of hippies but when you get out here you realize that they are teachers, seniors [and] even someone who works on Wall Street."

During the gathering, the group heard from a number of speakers, including an Egyptian man who participated in the Arab Spring, before disbanding into smaller groups.

Protesters said that they were trying to spread their message beyond Zuccotti Park.

"We've been down at Liberty Square for three weeks. They already know us. They know our names," said Jesse Franklin, 22. "We are not planning on getting arrested. We are just trying to get our message out."

The demonstrators, who have been camped out at Zuccotti Park, across the street from the World Trade Center, since Sept. 17, have clashed with police numerous times since they first gathered and are generating tensions with local residents.

Sanitary conditions at the plaza, which is privately owned by Brookfield Properties, but must be open to the public 24-hours-a-day under an agreement with he city, have become a concern as well because the park has not been cleaned or inspected since Sept. 16.

"Sanitation is a growing concern.  Normally, the park is cleaned and inspected every weeknight.  This process includes power washing, litter removal, landscaping and other maintenance as required," said Brookfield spokeswoman Melissa Coley.

"Because many of the protestors refuse to cooperate by adhering to the rules, the park has not been cleaned since Friday, September 16, and as a result, sanitary conditions have reached unacceptable levels."

It is not clear if the protesters are planning to form a second encampment at Washington Square Park or were merely holding a rally. 

While the demonstration at Washington Square Park unfolded, the punk group Anti-Flag was expected to play an acoustic set at Zuccotti Park "in solidarity with our movement's expansion," Occupy Wall Street said on its site.

More than 700 people were arrested when the Occupy Wall Street group marched on the Brooklyn Bridge last Saturday.

And on Wednesday, a largely peaceful march on Foley Square took a violent turn after the rally broke up when demonstrators rushed police barricades at Wall Street.

Police supervisors were caught on tape hitting protesters with batons and more than two dozen people were arrested.