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Parents and Kids for Occupy Wall Street Protest Police Brutality

By DNAinfo Staff on December 10, 2011 10:03pm

Children close their eyes as their parents held up photographs of police brutality against Occupy Wall Street protesters during the Parents for Occupy Wall Street march near City Hall Park on Dec. 10, 2011.
Children close their eyes as their parents held up photographs of police brutality against Occupy Wall Street protesters during the Parents for Occupy Wall Street march near City Hall Park on Dec. 10, 2011.
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DNAinfo/Sarah Tan

By Sarah Tan

Special to DNAinfo

LOWER MANHATTAN — Dozens of parents for Occupy Wall Street and their children marched and protested on the subway from Union Square to the City Hall Park Saturday against police brutality.

Organizers for the event, part of International Human Rights Day, said they wanted the march to send a message to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg that police “bullying” was not right.

“Parents and kids are getting together to remind the mayor that bullying is not nice,” spokeswoman for Parents for Occupy Wall Street Liesbeth Rapp said. “It's confusing for the children to see the people they think are supposed to be protecting them doing this.”

As parents held up signs showing photos of police clashing with Occupy Wall Street protesters, their children stood in front of them and shielded their eyes.

The children then posted painted paper hearts, one made for each protester that had been arrested nationwide, on the outside of City Hall Park.

Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters have been arrested in New York since the movement began on Sept. 17. 

During that time protesters have clashed violently with police on occasion, including a march on Sept. 24 in which Dep. Inspector Anthony Bologna was caught on videotape pepper spraying a group of women near Union Square.

More recently, at UC Davis in California, officers were filmed pepper spraying protesters at point blank range as the sat on the ground in protest.

“We teach our children that bullying is wrong and unacceptable but when we see it goes unnoticed it's hard to explain it to them,” said parent Mark Hamilton, 34, of Jersey City.