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Politicians Among 26 Arrested in Zuccotti Park Fair-Pay Protest, NYPD Says

By Aidan Gardiner | November 29, 2016 10:57am

MANHATTAN — Elected officials were among 26 people arrested for blocking traffic during a protest for a higher minimum wage in the Financial District Tuesday morning, NYPD officials said.

The protesters, including politicians Brad Lander, Mark Levine, Francisco Moya and Antonio Reynoso, were cuffed near Broadway and Liberty Street on charges of obstructing governmental administration while taking part in the "Fight for 15" campaign, a nationwide effort to raise the minimum wage, police and activists said.

About 30 people broke off from a gathering in Zuccotti Park to "engage in civil disobedience" outside a nearby McDonald's to protest the burger joint's unfair treatment of its own workers, according to organizers with the Service Employees International Union.

The gathering in the park included fast food workers, airport workers, Uber drivers, taxi drivers and other activists, organizers said.

The protest marked the fourth anniversary of the first fast food workers strike and took place in the same area where Occupy Wall Street famously staked its camp for months in 2012.

After the Financial District protests, activists planned to converge on Newark Liberty International Airport for a major rally to improve conditions of airport workers, they said.