television interview, wasn't step further. he kind ofoubled down on those comments saying it reveals to me the president grew up in a privileged way, saying that he never had to work for anything. i think it's safe to say the president grew up much more modestly, not in a privileged way. >> oh, boy. it's going to be difficult in this war of words now trying for people to kind of decipher. what do i make of this? all right. thanks so much. >> exactly. >> paul, appreciate that. we'll have our next political update in one hour. go to politics.com for all your news. we have more straight ahead in the newsroom with suzanne malveaux. >> great to see you, fred. have a great day. i want to get you up to speed for this thursday, november 17th. on the two-month anniversary of the occupy movement, cities around the country are bracing for what could be the biggest day of protests ever. i'm going to start with new york. of course, the birthplace of the uprising. you're taking a look at live pictures there as they are gathering. protesters are currently trying

to shut down the stock exchange. they also plan to take over the subways, the brooklyn bridge, and even the doorstep of city hall. there's a heavy police presence right there out in the streets, as a you can see. more than 50 people have already been arrested. it's a very fluid situation. tensions running high. meanwhile, on the west coast, as you see, more protests and potential problems. you're looking at live pictures there out of l.a. that is where protesters plan to bring traffic to a halt downtown by occupying a major intersection. we got new information today on the child molestation case against jerry sandusky, coach paterno's right-hand man at penn state. the "new york times" details a series of incidents over a 12-year period that taken together suggest that university officials knew about sandusky's behavior but kept quiet. also, campus and city police are telling cnn they have no record that mike mcqueary filed a

report on sandusky back in 2002. you may recall he's the guy, the assistant coach, who says he went to police when he saw sandusky sodomizing a boy in the showers. it is possible that police didn't write a report, if they decided not to pursue the charges. well, the mother of one of the alleged victims spoke to cnn's anderson cooper last night. she discusses her son's reaction to sandusky's denials on national tv this week. her voice has been altered to protect her identity. >> he was upset. he was very upset about it. he said, i didn't watch it -- i watched it when it was on. he watched it after that. he said that he cried. i said, why did you cry? he said, because i'm afraid he might go free. >> shortly, we're going to have an extended part of anderson's conversation with the mother. she says that sandusky is a sick man. well, we've got violence

that we're watching escalating in syria. army defectors attacked a p pro-government youth group today. at least 12 people were killed today alone. more than 100 protesters are said to have been killed by pro-government forces this week. germany, france, britain plan to go the u.n. today with a resolution condemning the syrian government's actions. the worst weather to hit the south since april's tornado outbreak has killed at least five people. severe storms, suspected tornados damaged homes and businesses from louisiana to north carolina. now three of the deaths were in york county, south carolina. that is just outside charlotte. one person was killed in north carolina, another in georgia. >> i watched it for a few minutes to see what direction it was coming. looked like it was coming straight toward us. me and my wife and two children

are lucky. if it would have hit our house, we would have ended up like our neighbors. we go back to our top story this hour. it could be a tipping point for the occupy movement. we're looking at live pictures here. this is a two-movanth anniversa of the uprising. protesters are hoping to create a massive disruption in new york city. things are all going to change, at least if they get their way. they're targeting the financial district, town hall, the city transit, as well as the brooklyn bridge. mary snow is live in the middle of all the action there. the heart of the occupy movement. so mary, they plan on shutting things down. what's the impact now? what are we seeing? >> reporter: well, suzanne, if you look behind me, protesters are streaming back into the park. they really have been over the past hour. kind of leaving those choke points that you've seen earlier this morning where protesters really blocking intersections at

streets around the new york stock exchange. coming back here, regrouping, if you will. there are a number of other protests throughout the day. it's really been a day of protests. police say so far there are about 50 to 60 arrests made. this mostly, they say, for disrupting traffic. we did witness one arrest earlier today of a man who identified himself as a former police captain in philadelphia. also, within the last hour, we've heard from the nypd that four police officers were taken by fire department ambulance to a hospital because an unknown liquid had been splashed on them. they did walk on to the ambulance. that's what's been happening in this last hour. i'm going to just move over here a little bit because we're hearing a lot of noise coming out of the park as these protesters are streaming in here. as you can imagine, it's a very fluid situation through the morning. it's really tough to say how

many people have showed up for these protests. really, it was kind of a massive show of force earlier on today. suzanne. >> yeah, mary, i know where you are. i've been there. i've seen that area before. can you give us a sense of the mood there? is it tense where you are? i know a lot of times when you're in situations like that, there's a lot of abrupt movement. you lahear a lot of noise. it can be chaotic at times. give me a sense of the mood where you are. >> reporter: i would say the atmosphere was charged earlier today. for the most part, it was peaceful. at some points, there were people marching through the streets playing instruments. you could hear music. yes, tense at some points. as i said, for the most part, largely peaceful. >> and they're planning on shutting down the subway system. why is that? that's, you know, transportation

that the 99% use, for the most part. >> reporter: yeah, you know, i talked to one protesters earlier on the way over here saying they didn't really plan to shut the subway system down. of course, this is one story from many protesters. the version i heard was that they're planning to gather at several subway stations throughout manhattan, tell their stories in their own words, and then get on the subway, go downtown to foley square. that's going to be the site of their big protest they're expecting this afternoon when they plan to hold a march across the brooklyn bridge. suzanne, we should point out the whole objective of this today was to disrupt trading at new york stock exchange. that did not happen. i can tell you -- okay. we are -- okay. we're going to show you a shot above us to look inside that park. we can hear a lot of action in there. we're going to walk down there,

suzanne. >> mary, what i'm looking at from the aerial shot that you had mentioned there, it looks like they are taking away barricades. they're clearing those barricades that have been set up. i'm not sure who's actually doing that, if it's the protesters who are moving those barricades themselves. but you do see in the left bottom portion of this shot where there are photographers who are gathered, who are taking pictures. you can see the crowds there essentially moving those metal barricades that have been placed there before. a lot of cheering. a lot of noise. let's just listen in for a moment. [ chanting ] >> reporter: suzanne, i can tell you this happened very quickly. >> all right. i want to just let our viewers know what you're watching here.

the small picture on the right, that's live pictures out of los angeles where the protesters are gathering, the occupy wall street protests out of los angeles. you can see hundreds and hundreds of people who are marching and waving flags. on the left of your screen there, that is where you see live pictures out of new york. this is the birth of the occupy movement, where there is a lot of cheering that's going on. that is because it looks like, from our vantage point, the group started to move the metal barricades away. there is a very heavy police presence there as our own mary snow was talking about. mary, if you are -- i understand you're still with us. what are you seeing? i know you're trying to get in closer to that crowd. >> reporter: well, i can tell you right in front of me, suzanne, we're going to try to get a picture of this. we are seeing police -- they

ha hauled out someone from the park. they have them on the ground in cuffs. we can see protesters starting to lift the barricades that were inside the park. we're seeing a couple of other people being hauled out of the crowd now and being arrested. >> mary, yes, we are seeing that right now. these are live pictures. you can see what look like -- >> reporter: police are running down. suzanne, sorry. there are police now coming on motorcycles down the street where we were just standing. police are closing in on these protesters. >> we are watching right now a standoff between police, protesters. this is the "occupy wall street"

site in new york where police are trying to maintain some sense of crowd control. mary is on the ground there right in the middle of all of this. we just saw at least two people hauled away and arrested. mary, give us a sense, how many police officers are moving about here? is this a troubled spot? >> reporter: yeah, suzanne, i can't tell you how quickly this happened. we were just telling you that this was fairly peaceful. what happened was protesters started going into that park, throwing over the barricades, and now there are arrests being made. police are streaming in. protesters shouting across the street at them. there's a small crowd over here with police where they have taken some of these protesters to the side. police just are now filling this block. we saw a number of them coming

in on motorcycles. now they're going into the crowd. i don't know if you can see that shot, but they're pushing their way over those barricades. >> mary, we are looking at those. a lot of pushing going on between the crowd and a very heavy police presence. can you give us a sense of just how many people are down there? are we talking about hundreds and hundreds of people? are we looking at just one particular small area of this protest? >> reporter: no, we are talking about hundreds of people in this park. we're going to show a different shot from above our truck, so you can get a better view of this. i can't even tell you how many police right now are coming in. >> i think we're going to show you the shot now. >> mary, we're listening in

here. what are people saying? what are they chanting? what are they trying to convey here? what are they trying to do? >> reporter: you know, i can't even hear what they're chanting right now. suzanne -- we are behind a barricade. i'm standing right now behind a stream of police officers. they're trying to re-enforce those barricades. >> i wanted to remind our viewers what we're watching here. this is where the "occupy wall street" day of action is taking place. that's an understatement. a lot of action that is taking place right now. what looks like clearly the police trying to maintain control over a crowd. the crowd is chanting. we're not seeing violence, necessarily. we are seeing a bit of pushing

and shoving that is going on. we have seen the protesters lifting these metal barricades, removing them, which alerted police. they went moving in. we saw at least two people being handcuffed and taken away. this is the scene. hundreds of people gathering earlier in the day. they said on the two-month an verse -- anniversary, they wanted to shut down wall street, shut down trading, in some form shut down the transit system, the subway, as well as make their presence know. this comes just days after the mayor said they were not allowed to gather here in this park with tents or sleeping bags, but rather gather peacefully without those things throughout the day. let's get back to mary, who is in the middle of all this on the ground. mary, can you just describe what you're seeing around?

>> reporter: yeah, i am on the south side of the park. it's really -- it's so jam packed in here, suzanne. it's hard to see inside the middle of the park. now police are just swarmed this area. what we can tell is that these barricades were being kind of tossed or picked up toward the middle of that park. protesters came here after that march this morning around the new york stock exchange and really just moments ago when we first started talking to you, it had been peaceful. more people started streaming in while we were talking to you. that's when those barricades started being tossed. now there's just a thick line of blue.

this is a very narrow street. right now it is right in front of me, police officers making their way into that park and protesters chanting at them. i can't hear what the protesters are chanting. >> okay, mary. i want to bring in carol costello, who is joining us as well, to talk about the impact of the "occupy wall street" movement. obviously, you are focusing on the politics of all this. the fact they are trying to bring forward a message. what do you make of it, carol? do you think they're actually the effective? >> well, this is a turning point, no doubt, for the occupy movements. they can't camp out anymore. not in any park across the nation because city mayors and police departments have had enough. they've had enough of the trash, of the spectacle and the criminals who would sometimes infiltrate this movement. they said, hey, we got to get rid of these encampments. some say, suzanne, good riddance

to that. in fact, one blogger wrote, their legacy is they showed the left for what it truly s and it ain't pretty. the world was watching and didn't like what it saw. the parks were cleared because the protesters were violent, dangerous kree tons. as you can see here, they're not exactly violent. at least right now in new york city. they're pushing police. there's some pushing and shoving going on. they're removing those barricades so that they can infiltrate the park, where the movement began two months ago. i talked to the deputy mayor for the city of new york earlier this morning. he said that the police were going to be pretty strict about this kind of thing. if protesters crossed those barriers they were going to be placed under arrest. protesters also plan to march across the brooklyn bridge later this afternoon around 5:00 p.m. eastern time. right around rush hour.

if they step on to that bridge, they will be arrested. the thing i'm focusing on today is this kind of, like, pushing the message forward. whatever that message may be that these "occupy wall street" protesters want to send out to the nation, is all of that obscuring this message, or have they really changed the political conversation in this country? have they changed the conversation? are you thinking about income inequality now? are you thinking about injustice, perhaps, on wall street? are you thinking simply about the enormous debt that this country has accumulated? that's what the political conversation has really been these past few months. i guess that's what i would like our viewers to answer for me. has these occupy protests changed the political conversation in america? facebook.com/carolcnn. please weigh in on this and what you're seeing live right now, what's happening in new york city. >> thank you, carol. we want to get a closer vantage

point, if we can. looks like things are starting to calm down here. obviously, a very tense situation on the ground there. things are changing minute by minute. as we saw before, the crowds lifting the barricade, moving very quickly through the park. the police that went chasing after this group. at least we saw two individuals arrested being carried away. a lot of chanting, flags. mary, are you still there with us in the middle of this? >> reporter: i am, suzanne. i'm on the street adjacent to the park. as you can see from that shot you just got right now, a clear shot of what's happening. right now, for the moment, seems to be kind of a standoff between police, who have lined this street, put up some of these barricades, and the protesters

inside. we've seen a number of these standoffs, not to this extent, earlier today. this is what we've been seening for the past couple minutes. this park is filled with hundreds of protesters. there are some who i'm looking at dancing, playing music at a different part of this park. really, where this is focused right now, where the standoff is, pretty tense situation as cops and protesters kind of wait it out right now. >> mary, stay with us. i want to take our viewers to los angeles, too, where things are heating up on the ground there as well. we have a photojournalist in l.a. paint the picture there. what's happening where you are? >> okay. i'm downtown l.a. on figueroa street approaching 4th street. the protesters started pretty

much from city hall. they're heading towards bank of america building, i'm told. but earlier on the radio, i heard that the occupy protesters might hang out here at the 4th street and figueroa intersection and sit down in the intersection. i'm between fifth and fourth, approaching fourth, trying to stay ahead of the protesters because it's so loud in the middle of the drumming and chanting. >> how many people are there, john, where you are on the ground? >> well, it looks to be about 5 to 600 protesters. occupy movement protesters and a lot of labor unions as well. >> we noticed they're walking down the street with the big sign that says "we are the 99%." what are they trying to do here? obviously, they've disrupted some of the trading happening there downtown or some of the buildings. >> they're trying to unify the

country, saying from new york to l.a., we are the occupy movement. the police downtown here have closed off certain streets. >> okay, john. we're going to take a quick break here. what you're watching, what we've been watching, we'll continue to watch here the developments from coast to coast. we're talking about los angeles, "occupy wall street" protesters walking down the street in big numbers. it looks like they are just getting started there on the west coast. on the east coast, new york, the birth of the movement, "occupy wall street." you see the crowds have gathered. hundreds and hundreds of people in that park. there was a lot of -- there were a few scuffles, people who were arrested. very tense situation there on the ground in new york. more of this after a quick break. n to help bring children holiday joy,

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following a breaking news story. this is the two-month anniversary of the "occupy wall street" movement. we are watching protests from the west coast to the east coast. los angeles, that is the smaller box there that you are seeing. also, the larger picture here, live pictures. this is zuccotti park in new york. this is where the movement began. we see a growing crowd, a crowd that has taken down some of the barricades. a standoff that is occurring with police right now. our own mary snow is in the middle of all of this. it's been a very tense situation. we've seen things change minute by minute. mary, what's happening now? >> reporter: well, suzanne, really, we're seeing kind of a standstill right now between police and protesters. the tension has dropped down a notch. what we can tell you is this, what we saw were about four or five people, handful of people

earlier lift barricades that had been inside zuccotti park. we're on the south side of zo zuccotti park. once those barricades were lifted, police started moving in. you saw some pushing and shoving. we saw at least two arrests following that. police just streamed in after that. what we are seeing now is police wanting cedar street, which is on the south side of zuccotti park, with the protesters inside. they streamed in here after their initial protest march early this morning when they really targeted the new york stock exchange. their plan was to disrupt trading on wall street. that did not happen. they did close off some intersections around the new york stock exchange. there had been, at that point, police say about 50 to 60 arrests, mostly for disrupting

traffic. they came in here. you saw what happened while we were on the air, really. police came in. we're seeing police get back now on their motorcycles going down the street. we're just going to hang on one second, see what happens next here. they're leaving this street. >> yeah, we can see where you are, mary. we can see the police officers on the motorbikes there and the barricade that's been set up keeping the protesters away from some of the media as well as the line of, the sea of officers, if you will. it is quite a heavy police presence. most of these arrests, mary, you say people have been arrested today. is this disorderly conduct? is this because they are not in the right place, or has it gotten violent? what kind of arrests are we s

seeing? >> reporter: mostly for disrupting traffic. we have not witnessed any violence. the arrests i saw earlier today happened when protesters were sitting down and blocking the street. that's when police took them away. the police had initially allowed protesters to block the intersections on the streets. then they were telling protesters to move back to the sidewalk. when those arrests happened, it was to get people back on the sidewalks so that traffic can move through. we did learn -- police told us that four police officers were taken to a hospital because they were splashed with an unknown liquid. all four of the police officers were able to walk into that ambulance. they were looking into what kind of liquid was thrown at them.

>> mary, how long are these guys allowed to stay out here before the police decide they're going to clear them out? >> reporter: to clear the protesters out? >> yes, are they allowed to just -- what are they allowed to do? looks like kind of a party atmosphere. we see balloons being tossed about and chanting and waving flags. are they allowed to stay out there after dark? >> reporter: yeah, you know, the city just two days ago -- this has been the bone of contention and what has infuriated some protesters. they are allowed to stay here and protest. they are not allowed to bring sleeping bags or tents or camp out overnight in the park. this, of course, happened just two days ago after the city came in and evicted protesters in the middle of the night. you know, some of the protesters you talk to of "occupy wall street" say this really strengthened their resolve, to make their presence known today

after the city's actions just two days ago. >> so this standoff could essentially be -- carry out the rest of the day. i mean, is there any law or ordinance that says they have to leave? essentially, if they say in that location, they can simply stay all day, all night? >> reporter: yeah, and the police are coming back down once again on this street. the city's been saying all day that as long as these protesters abide by the law, they're allowed to stay here. they said if they, you know, if they blocked traffic or blocked car traffic on the bridge that they could be arrested. as long as they are in the park, they are allowed to stay here. as long as they're abiding by the law. as you know, there are a number of protests planned throughout the day. one is to occupy various subway

stations. although, some of the protesters say it's not their intention to, you know, shut down subways or anything like that. then, of course, the large protest that they are planning for is at 5:00 this afternoon at brooklyn bridge. you know, suzanne, the city was saying leading into today that they were bracing for tens of thousands, potentially, tens of thousands of people showing up today. >> all right, mary. we are keeping a close eye. you're looking at live pictures here out of new york, out of los angeles. there are "occupy wall street" protesters throughout the country today. there is a sense in some areas of calm. others, determination. others, tension on the ground as this scene unfolds minute by minute. we have reporters throughout these cities on the ground watching, observing, reporting on what is taking place there. we're also going to bring in a legal voice to talk a little bit

about how this day is going to unfold here. you are talking about potentially tens of thousands of people on the brooklyn bridge. you're talking about potentially government buildings and businesses shut down as a result. traffic at a standstill. a lot of potential disruption around these protests. this is intentional. this is something that they want to bring their message to the country and to the world about this income inequality. it will be potentially a very disruptive day for a lot of folks throughout the country. we're going to have more on that after a quick break.

we're watching protests throughout the country, but specifically in two major cities. that is where the "occupy wall street" movement has rapidly grown. los angeles, the smaller picture that you're seeing on the screen, as people are marching down the street. also, where a lot of the action is taking place, that is in new york, zuccotti park. that is where hundreds and hundreds of people have gathered. they've been there for hours. we have seen some of those

protesters remove the barricades that are supposed to keep them in an enclosed area. some of the police officers putting people in handcuffs, arresting them for various violations. it has been a very tense situation on the ground there in new york. things have changed moment by moment. we have also seen what looks like kind of a celebratory mood with balloons and flags and chants. clearly, a day in which -- it's called a day of action, in which the "occupy wall street" protesters would like to bring their message to the people and disrupt what is taking place in downtown new york. they say they are going to shut down much of the tran ssit syst, the subways. they are trying to disrupt trade. they are moving about. what we're seeing on the ground is essentially a standoff between the protesters and the police, who are just trying to make sure they stay in an

enclosed area. i want to bring in alison kosik. she reports from the new york stock exchange every day. alison, i understand from your vantage point, it was pretty difficult to get into work today. >> reporter: difficult because of the nypd presence and the fortification that they've erected around the new york stock exchange. they've closed off many streets around the perimeter of the exchange. as you get closer, you start to get into those layers upon layers of barricades. i have to walk in and use an i.d. badge. today, it was checked many, many times. i was definitely given a once over a few times by several nypd officers. they want to make sure i needed -- or they wanted to make sure i was going to a place where i should be going. clearly, though, the trade went off without a hitch today. the opening bell rang. stocks are trading as a normal day. sitting inside the new york stock exchange here, suzanne,

you'd never know what's going on outside. we just want to pull up some pictures i took earlier. you see just how it is. this is right around the new york stock exchange, right by the openings, where you walk into the building. you see how dozens upon dozens of officers on horseback are literally fortifying the doors to get into this place. it's more of a show of force along with the barricades. right there is a shot of broad street. you see the flags there on the left. that is one of the main entrances here to the new york stock exchange. there's a huge show of force just around this building. it really has become quite a cocoon over the past day or so, suzanne. >> and alison, is this what it normally looks like? since the protests started, this is a two-month anniversary here. the protesters said this would be a day of action, this would be a day they would rally and come out in large numbers. just over the last 12 hours or so, did you -- have you seen a real beefed up police presence

since they have threatened to shut things down? >> reporter: yes. you know, since the protests began two months ago, the barricades have been up, but not in this -- not this much. last night when i was leaving the exchange, i could barely get out because the gates were blocking me in. they had already started. nypd had already started erecting all of those barricades, getting ready for what was coming their way. you know, there has been a lot of skepticism whether or not protesters were going to be successful in storming the new york stock exchange. still, clearly they were taking great precautions. the barricades, the security most certainly stepped up today around this building, suzanne. >> all right. alison, thank you. i want to bring in attorney richard herman to talk a little bit about the legal questions here. first of all, richard, explain to us how this is going to work. you have a standoff between police and hundreds of people located in this very small area

of the city. the mayor says they are allowed to be there as long as they don't have erect tents and sleeping bags and camp out. is this a scene that essentially could play out for hours and days? >> well, suzanne, the key to that is peaceful protests like ghandi said. peaceful protests is one of the more powerful methods to bring attention. however, here when we see this many people lined up and emotions -- it seems like a jovial atmosphere right now. as the day goes on, who knows what's going to happen with the tensions. beefed up police forces around. mayor bloomberg is trying to aco acome dkoccommodate them. he's charged with protecting the citizens of the city of new york. that's his charge. so while allowing the peaceful protests, it's a tough balance here. the opportunity for just one of these protesters to maybe throw a punch at a police officer or

throw something at a police officer, this entire situation could absolutely erupt. so i got to believe as the day goes on, tensions are going to increase. i hope it doesn't. again, the city of new york, the mayor is charged with protecting its citizens. they will do so, like we just saw. they beefed up around wall street. they beefed up the presence in this area. they're going to take down barricades, and they're going to destroy public property. they're going to be arrested. they're going to be treated like common criminals. if they can keep their protest contained, perhaps their message will get out. if it gets the least bit violent or if anybody in the city is going to suffer from this, any type of physical harm, the police are going to move in swiftly. >> richard, what about the brooklyn bridge? they're planning on marching on the brooklyn bridge, potentially bringing traffic to a standstill. if they're on the bridge, is that cause for arrest? >> well, there is a walking

portion on that bridge, suzanne, as you know. if they're going to walk across the walking portion of the, bridge, i think they're going to be able to do that successfully. if they venture down to the driving lanes where the cars are and they completely shut down that bridge, they're going to be arrested. that's how i see it. >> as long as things remain -- >> that's a very tense -- >> sure, go ahead. >> i think -- i just don't know where, you know, what they want to do today other than have this protest in this contained area. if they're going to try to disrupt the city like we're hearihear i ing, if they're going to try to stop the flow of traffic or stop the subways from operating, they're going to be arrested. there's going to be mass arrests. >> but richard, i imagine if there are that many people, the police are not going to be able to handle that. if hundreds and hundreds turns into tens of thousands, they're not going to have that kind of force to arrest everybody.

i assume they could just walk and roam the streets as they wish. >> well, the new york city police department is probably the finest in the country. i know they're prepared for this. like you said, 10,000 arrests, i don't know. maybe they can't handle that. again, they're going to do everything they can to protect the citizens. they have an obligation to do that. the mayor has the obligation to do that. these protesters, i mean, if they have a plan today and it was not approved by the city in advance, they're running the risk of violeating the peace in the city, and they're going to have problems. it's not going to off without a hitch. there are going to be mass arrests in the city of new york and elsewhere if these people don't stay contained. if they truly, truly want to disrupt and shut down the city, they're not going to let that happen in new york. i can tell you that. >> all right. richard herman, thank you very much. we're keeping a close watch on what is taking place there on

the grounds, zuccotti park in new york. hundreds of hundreds of people gathering now. the "occupy wall street" movement day of action. the two-month anniversary. the standoff that is taking place with police at that particular location. this is happening at a day and a time when there are protests throughout the country. we're going to have more on this right after a quick break.

for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years.

following breaking news throughout the country here. you are watching -- we are watching together these "occupy wall street" protests that are spreading and erupting throughout the country. we are taking a look from west to east coast. we have los angeles, where people are marching down the street. we're taking a look at pictures now out of portland, oregon, as well, where people are beginning to gather. the main scene of all of this is new york, zuccotti park. that is the the birthplace of the "occupy wall street" movement. this is all a part of a day of action, a two-month anniversary mark, if you will. threats that are coming from the protesters to shut things down. we're talking about trading. that did not happen. wall street, that did not happen. we are talking about the brooklyn bridge. we are talking about various sites, transportation, businesses. this is a day in which the protesters want to get their message across about income inequality. what we have seen, however, are various arrests.

some scuffles. a lot of tension on the ground. we saw earlier, cnn got video of retired philadelphia police captain ray lewis, who was down with the protesters earlier getting arrested in yuniform. the crowd's reaction to that. you can see pictures from earlier in the day. it has been a very tense situation on the ground in new york as police try to contain the protesters. hundreds and hundreds who have gathered in a very small area. the police are trying to keep them in a barricaded area of that park there. i want to bring in mary snow, who's on the ground in the middle of all of this. mary, just describe for us, if you will, what's taking place around you, what you're seeing. >> reporter: well, suzanne, we're talking about how quickly the situation changes here. things really got much, much calmer quickly. now we're seeing as protesters

here in zuccotti park are streaming out of the park. it's believed they are now heading to wall street. there had been, obviously, protests there earlier today. there's been a steady stream. it's been very peaceful without incident as these protesters head down there. you but, you know, as you had been mentioning earlier, this is a changing day. these protesters vowed to make their mark throughout the day here in new york. here in lower manhattan, where this occupy wall street movement started two months ago. and you know, this march had been planned and different protests had been planned, and then two days ago, the city evicted protesters from zuccotti park, saying they could protest, but they could not camp out in the park. and that really infuriated many of these protesters, who had been here, camping out. really saying that it gave them

resolve to make a show today, a show of force today here in lower manhattan. not all of the protesters are heading over to wall street. you see many of them are staying here. and there are a number of protests throughout the day. one is expected to take place at several subway stations throughout manhattan. and then later today at 5:00, there is a march on the brooklyn bridge. and the city, going into this day, had been bracing, in its words, for potentially tens of thousands of people to show up today. suzanne? >> mary, we're going to get back to you in just a minute. but we have this dramatic report from an ireporter, alvarez perez. he brings this to us. he said he was on his way to work when he came across a group of occupy protesters shouting as police were arresting a female demonstrator, and he says, according to this ireport, he noticed that the police were pulling the girl by her hair.

do we have that ireport up? we're going to go to that now. >> now, according to the ireporter, he says that they noticed that the police were pulling the girl by her hair and that people started yelling, that it was police brutality. and he says that's when he started to go ahead and tape this. he said that the police dragged the protester into the street by her backpack, as the crowd started to yell, "shame, shame, shame!" this ireporter, perez, says he doesn't know what this woman was doing before this incident occurred, but you can see there, from the video that was taken, that this was a very dramatic moment. it disturbed a lot of people, and you see the way the police are handling the arrest of this

woman. this is from the site, the occupy wall street site, taken from an ireporter who saw this earlier in the day. we're going to go ahead and follow the protests, the tension, the arrests. we're going to have more after a quick break. . two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. [ gasp ] [ mom ] my husband -- he thinks it's a 3-sheeter. i say 1-sheeter. bounty can clean the mess with less. [ female announcer ] in this lab demo, 1 sheet of bounty leaves this surface as clean as 2 sheets of the bargain brand. ♪

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you're watching breaking news. these are occupy wall street protesters throughout the country. we're talking about los angeles, portland, oregon, as well as where a lot of the action is taking place. that is on the streets of new york, zuccotti park. that is where the movement began. it is the two-monte anniversary and protesters have vowed a day of action. what does that mean? for some of these protesters, that means shutting down the subways, shutting down business. and some, it has meant a little back and forth with the police officers who are down on the ground trying to make sure that they are contained in a very specific area. i want to bring in carol costello. because, carol, you've been getting a lot of viewer comments

and feedback about what this movement has turned into. the message, whether or not that message is even -- has gotten lost in all of this. what are folks saying? >> well, specifically, the talk back question was, has occupy wall street changed the political conversation in america? we've gotten a pretty good response to this one, suzanne. this one from mike. "you bet it has. look at all the media attention it has gotten and it has grown and continues to grow. the mayors who oppose may have found ways to disrupt encampments, but in reality this will only strengthen it." this from ken, "change the political conversation. it has certainly been mocked by politicians, but not changed it much. although i support the supposed cause of occupy wall street, i have over time become confused on what this cause is exactly about." this from paula, "occupy wall street is nothing more than lazy brats who don't want to work and feel that they are entitled to be catered to. they're disgusting and their parents should be ashamed." whoo, that's harsh! this from yvonne, "they

certainly have changed our conversation this morning. hate them or love them, you're still talking about them and this is all they want." keep the comments coming, facebook.com/carolcnn. certainly interesting. most people are pretty much pro-occupy wall street, i think, suzanne. they say at least it's gotten the conversation headed in another direction, and things are talking about things like income inequality and who should be taxed more and who should be taxed less. at least there's a conversation going about these things now. >> there certainly is. and there's a lot of attention to the issue, as well as to the protesters. so they have the eye of the nation, certainly, watching, very closely ner lly in terms o this all plays out. whether or not that message can be conveyed in this type of way, because i imagine it's pretty difficult to get around and could be very disruptive for folks, at least, who live in new york. i want to go to mary snow, who's on the ground. she's in the middle of all of this. mary, you have one of the protesters with you.

if you would, just, you know, ask them what they hope to accomplish today. >> reporter: i will. and her name is jo robbins. she's 29 years old. she's from new orleans and she has been here for about 3 1/2 weeks. jo, thanks for talking with us. what do you hope to accomplish today? >> today? i hope to accomplish reminding the rest of the world that they're a part of the 99%. and i'd really like to see some solidarity between students and the unions and the people here who have been living in the park. >> you have been down here for 3 1/2 weeks. do you feel that your intentions have been affected? do you think you're getting your message out? >> i think, particularly, ironically, after the raid, our message is being broadcast all over the world right now. and today's actions and the media presence here has far outnumbered any of the media presence i've seen since the the beginning of the occupation. >> what's next for occupy wall street down here in lower manhattan? you've been evicted from zuccotti park.

you can protest, but you can't camp out here. do you intend to have another place where you occupy? or what's next? >> i think the numbers have increased dramatically today. and i think we need to have a general assembly, and we need to discuss together, figure out what the best choice is next. >> reporter: and this afternoon, you intend to march on the brooklyn bridge? >> yep, we are marching with the students who are marching from union square to foley square and then the unions are meeting us at foley square. >> reporter: and the message there? why the brooklyn bridge? >> because of the arrests that were happened at the brooklyn bridge. 700 people were arrested at the brooklyn bridge. >> reporter: do you want to shut it down? >> shut it down is a big word. i think we want to remind the rest of the world and each other that this is our city, this is our country, and we have the right to march wherever we want to march. this is a peaceful movement, and we want everyone to be encouraged to be a part of this. >> reporter: jo robin, thank you for your time. and suzanne, being here the past couple of weeks and talking to different protesters who have

been down here, their stories are very similar to jo robins. they have been down here for several weeks, you know, camping out here. and the big question mark is, what happens next? this march had been -- this day of protest had been planned because this is the two-month anniversary. where they go next, still trying to figure that out. suzanne? >> mary, if you could ask her a quick follow-up question. does she worry, does she have any concern at all if they end up disrupting the subway system and people can't get home or if they have a difficult time of moving around, is she worried that that takes away from the supporters, the 99 percenters who use the subways and have to get home to their families and have jobs and are still, you know, understanding their struggle, but are now kind of inconvenienced, if you will, and making life a little bit rougher for them. >> reporter: sure. jo, we have one more question from suzanne malveaux.

that's about the protests at the subways later today. there are several subway stations targeted. and do you worry, are you concerned at all if subway service disrupted, with people going home during rush hour, trying to get home from work to their families, are you worried that that is going to hurt some support from people outside of this area? >> i think there might be a misconception that the idea of occupy the subways is shut down the subway systems. i think occupy the subways is about talking to people on their way homes from work. i don't think the intention is to shut down the subway. the intention is to be on the subways. it's our public transit system and it's something we should all have access to. >> reporter: thank you for clearing that up. suzanne? >> appreciate that. i want to go to alison kosik. she reports from the new york stock exchange. talk about what you experienced today and whether or not trade was impacted at all. >> reporter: first of all, trade definitely was not impacted. the opening bell went off

without a hitch. people who work here came in per usual, except for, of course, the extra few minutes it took to get through security. you know, what's interesting about this building right now, it is really like a cocoon. as soon as there was word that the protesters were headed from zuccotti park back here to wall street, you could see, you know, nypd kind of get into position. i was watching from, actually, downstairs, out the window. you can see them kind of get into position again, getting ready for what could be coming their way. this building is most certainly fortified. in just about every entrance of this place, you've got groups of officers, if not tv cameras and tv lights and trucks that you see there, but you've got -- you know, you've got officers on horseback. you've got, you know, really a great show of force, just in case that group tries to get into this area. these pictures, by the way, i took earlier this morning. this is from a different vantage point. you don't see all the people around, because in order to get into this area, you have to have a specific i.d. to get toward

this building. and that's really been the case for the past two months, since occupy wall street has sort of been occupying this area. there had been barricades around this area, and security has been much tighter. but today, and last night, that security was most certainly stepped up quite a bit with layers of barricades, and the check of the i.d. happening more than once, more than twice, just to make sure i really belong in this area. >> suzanne? >> all right. alison, thank you very much. i want to go to, vann jones. he's president and cofounder of rebuild the dream. it is a group that is working to restore good jobs, economic opportunities for folks. vann, thanks for joining us. you and i talked just yesterday about this. and you've put in a lot of work, a lot of time in making sure that liberal and progressive groups know about occupy wall street, understand what the cause is, the message here, and lend their support. even their organizational support. what is the purpose of today? >> well, you know, today is a

huge, you know, i think victory for democracy. there's a lot of talk about security. this is a peaceful protest. we have 200 plus cities and growing. people demonstrating, saying, look, we want the economy to work for everybody. this is not a protest against rich people. in fact, if it were a protest against rich people, we would call it occupy silicon valley. we don't mind winners, we just don't like cheaters. we admire success, we just don't like greed. we want the people in america to have a chance to have jobs. we want to be able to see ordinary people be able to work hard and get somewhere. and not just for the few at the top. it's the 1% that only care about the 1% that we have a problem with. and this is a huge, peaceful demonstration around the country. 200 cities and growing, saying, listen, let's have -- we're the 99% for the 100%. we want everybody in america to

have a shot. >> do you think that message, vann, as much as people can understand and relate and even spo support that message, do you think it's getting lost when you look at the pictures, the standoff here, the threat of disturbances, of actually shutting down the bridge and, you know, making life difficult for folks who are part of the 99%? >> well, i think that the people's lives are being made difficult on a daily basis because the economy is not working. and unfortunately, you know, for the past couple of years, we have not been able to have a conversation in the country about the ordinary, you know, person, you know, who went to school, graduated with $100,000 in debt and can't get a job, praying for an unpaid internship. we have veterans who are coming home to nothing, to no job opportunities. 17 suicide attempts in our country, every single day, with our veterans. and sometimes it takes doing something to try to, you know, get attention to the problem, so

we can start looking for the solutions. but the solutions aren't going to come by saying to people, don't express yourself, don't demonstrate. if you look at the number of the people who have participated, overwhelmingly peaceful, and still, we need to actually have the conversation go from talking about jobs to actually figuring out a way to get the economy working for everybody. that is the -- and my concern is that, you know, we show these images that are the most arresting images, but if you're out there, most of this is very, very, very peaceful. and very, very celebratory of the fact that people are waking up to the fact that we need an economy that works for everybody. >> and vann, it's quite impressive when you talk about 200 cities here where people are gathered. and you bring up a very legitimate opponent, that most of this is peaceful protests. certainly not widespread violence here. do you think that the movement

needs more organization or a figurehead, a spokesperson, or something that can channel this message in a way that people can understand? >> well, i mean, here's the reality. first of all, you know, i don't speak for occupy wall street. occupy wall street, you know, the people who are occupying, the people who are sleeping outside, the people who have been pepper sprayed, the people who have really made the sacrifice, they speak for themselves. i support them, but the rest of us who make up the 99%, you know, ghandi spent ten years preparing himself and preparing his movement to be able to believe intelligible and understandable. this movement is only 10 weeks old. give the young people who are out there struggling a chance to develop themselves. i think that they have done a tremendous service to this country. they have been overwhelmingly peaceful. you always have a few people who get out of line. you can't even have a house party without somebody doing something. so you can't blame them for

everything. let's celebrate the fact that young people in america care about the future, that struggling folks are speaking out, and give this movement a chance to mature. it will mature. and as it matures, i think that we are going to be able to get from the anger to some answers and to go from having a bunch of energy to having some power to make a difference, but today is a big celebration, two months since september 17th to november 17th. a huge change in the national conversation. the media, unfortunately, i think, does show the sensational images, but if you look at what's actually going on, this is a peaceful movement with legitimate grievances, and we have to do better in america. we can't have all these young people with no jobs and no hope in our country. that's what's wrong -- that's the insecurity we need to be dealing with. the economic insecurity of our generation. >> last question here, van, who -- who are you addressing the message to? who would you like to respond? would it be politicians?

would it be the business community? is there someone in particular, a group in particular that you believe should be responding to this movement right now? >> i think there are three people who should be responding. if you go to rebuildthedream.com, you'll see there is a plan there, a program, 131,000 people came together online to come up with that program. it's a ten-point program to get jobs going. we would like for congress and the white house in washington, d.c., to take up the work that's hard on getting those ten points passed as possible. but rebuildthedream.com has actual solutions that government could employ. but we also want our business leaders to take a second look. especially in our financial sector. are there things that they could be doing? can our banking system look at the eyes of these young people who are suffering with these student loans and find a way to cut them a break? our homeowners are suffering. mortgages are underwater.

people are still being evicted. we bailed out the banks. with those banks look at these homeowners and find a way to renegotiate some of those mortgages? our small businesses are not getting the loans that they need. our formers are not getting the help that they need. our new, clean energy companies aren't. so we want our banking system to really look now. this country stood with you, we helped you, we bailed you out. now, turn around and help us. and then the last thing is, each individual also needs to the look at their own community. let's be a nation of neighbors and start helping each other again. if the government, our business leaders and our individuals work together, we can get somewhere. >> all right. van jones, thank you very much for your perspective. really appreciate that. i want to go back to carol, because carol, a lot of people weighing in on this occupy wall street movement and the impact that it has had. and van jones talks about they do have a message here. it is a message about income inequality. he just mentioned bailing out

the banks, asking for everybody to do their part. the banks, the businesses, the government. what are folks saying? >> folks have a lot of comments on this. and you know, i heard van jones and a lot of people in america heard him say that the message that this occupy wall street protest is generating throughout the country is resonating, but i'll tell you, suzanne, america's mayors are sick and tired of occupy wall street, the tents, the trash, the spectacle and the criminals who, at times, have infiltrated this movement pinpoint jumovement. it just became too much. so they said, good city encampments. as a tea party republican wrote, "their legacy is that they showed the left for what it truly is, and it ain't pretty. the world was watching and they didn't like what they saw. zuccotti parks and other protest sites across the country were cleared because the protesters were violent, dangerous k

cretins." the protesters say, first of all, occupy camps have been largely peaceful. and more importantly, they've called attention to something the right refuses to recognize, and that is the 99%. that's an income disparity in this country. that's the crimes on wall street that were never punished. these are things that these protesters are calling attention to. the thing is, suzanne, have those messages resonated with the public? i mean, has the occupy wall street movement changed the political conversation in america? will it make any difference? we want to know what you think. facebook.com/carolcnn. please send us your comments. i mean, is all of this for nothing? the occupy movement has taken a turn, right? they can no longer occupy parks and streets throughout the country. they have to take their movements to the street, they have to march. and we're seeing this on the

two-month anniversary of the occupy movement. will it die after this? we don't know. has it changed the conversation? has it had or will it have a lasting impact? that's what i would like to know from you today. facebo facebook.co facebook.com/car facebook.com/carolcnn. >> to the right there, you are watching portland oregon, an overpass where protesters are crossing over and beginning to gather there. to the left is new york's zuccotti park. that is where hundreds upon hundreds of protesters have gathered there with a plan, at least, to march across the brooklyn bridge later this afternoon. we are keeping a close eye on all these protests across the country as well as our ireporters who have some amazing pictures and stories themselves. we're going to have more of that after a very quick break. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now.

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it is being called a day of action. we are watching across the country as protests gather in major cities across the country. we are looking on your screen there, to the right is portland, oregon. that is where people are just beginning to gather over an overpass. in los angeles there in the center, that is where people are marching can downtown, trying to disrupt business and commerce. and to the left of your screen there, that is where we see most of the action today, just in the last hour or so. some scuffling with police, a little back and forth. there have been numerous ai arrests. for the most part, peaceful protests, but hundreds and hundreds of people who have been gathering there. police trying to keep this in a very contained park area. and now that has actually brought about quite a bit of tension, as you can imagine, in

that space. there are also plans to march across the brooklyn bridge, and some of the protesters are saying they want to shut down the bridge, shut down the subway system, and cause a lot of disturbances to get the message across. others say that that is not the the case and that they simply want to bring attention to the income inequality in this country. i want us to listen in, if we can, on the ground, to what is taking place in new york. >> you can hear the crowd chanting there. it's really very unclear how that is all going to play out. this was earlier in the day when the tension was quite high, when you have a standoff with dozens

and dozens of police officers there, and trying to keep them in a particular area. the crowd picking up some of the metal barricades and removing them as they took to the streets. it is unclear how this will unfold. right now it is peaceful and somewhat calm on the ground, but that has changed from moment to moment, as our own mary snow described earlier today, that it was quite a tense situation at one point as there were numerous arrests. want to also show you, this is very, very dramatic pictures from an ireporter. this is earlier today from alvaro perez. he says he was on his way to work when he came across a group of occupy protesters shouting at police, when they arrested this female demonstrator. just take a listen. [ people shouting ] >> don't pull her hair! >> help her! help her!

>> hey! hey! >> shame! shame! shame! shame! shame! shame! shame! shame! shame! >> get back! >> get on the sidewalk! out of the street! >> shame! shame! shame! >> perez says that he started shooting this when he saw the police officers dragging this woman by her hair and that she was arrested. he says he doesn't know why she was arrested or what happened before this scene, but the crowd was very upset, very angry at how she was being treated and handled by police. she was at the occupy wall

street site. it's not clear whether or not she was a protester or not, but we did see video there of her being dragg eged by her hair. the crowd very angry, yelling, "shame, shame, shame." this is earlier from today from an ireporter who saw this unfold right there at the protest site. i want to go to the west coast, to los angeles, where producer stan wilson is on the phone. and you are with the protesters there out in l.a. can you give us a sense of the mood? >> hi, suzanne. well, the los angeles police department is just a couple of minutes away from forcibly removing protesters along this major corridor of the financial district in downtown. and a few hundred people are blocking an intersection. and they, it appears, are willing to be arrested.

and they are part of this larger occupy movement. we haven't seen any arrests. a lot of protesters are chanting, it's a coalition of various people from los angeles in groups, organizations. and i think within the next few minutes, you'll seize movement as they'll all be forced to leave, if the police department orders them too. so that's how it looks here. we haven't seen any violence. we haven't seen anyone confronting police officers or any others on site here. >> and stan, you said you think there'll be some movement. what are you talking about? are the protesters going to try to break the barricade? are they going to try to move into the financial district? >> reporter: well, they're not -- they're basically blocking an intersection of

figueroa street, which is where several large hotels are and bank of america, u.s. bank, and other financial institutions are headquartered. but they're not holding any -- i don't see them holding anything that would be considered dangerous. some of the banners read "we are the 99%" and one of the organizations, goodjobsforla.org is one of the major organizers here. >> and stan, are the police, do they have orders to remove people from blocking the street? this intersection? are they going to be moving in? >> reporter: well, they have a -- the lapd came up with a tactical plan some time ago, according to the other press information office, about they are within two to three blocks of here, they're in their helmet

gear. they have batons and everybody carries batons. they are essentially blocking the entrance to some of the hotels here and intersections, just in case protesters tend to move toward the freeway on-ramps or any of the institutions here. >> okay. stan, we're going to get back to you very shortly. we're watching the video. we're seeing people who are looking and observing to see what's going to take place at that intersection. also, we have a ktla reporter who is talking to folks on the ground. let's go to that. >> reporter: what brought you here? why did you show up? >> i'm here because of the social injustice that's going on in this country. i'm here because of the fact of all the money that is in politics and all the corporations that are owning our politicians, but they're owning this country. and we have to get this country back to we, the people, is what our constitution was founded on. and exactly what we have to do is make sure that we bring the jobs back to america and make sure that there's justice back

in this country. >> i don't think there's anybody who's going to say they're not in favor of jobs. my question to you is this -- does this type of a protest really achieve anything at all, other than disrupting traffic and making it harder for people to get to their real jobs, those who still do have jobs? >> absolutely this does. because of the fact it shows the people who are sitting in these office buildings that are getting paid squat, it shows them they can get involved also, because this is our country. this is not the corporations' country. this is our country. i am a small business owner, and i am here as a small business owner, because of the fact that i support the workers. and i would love to see more. i don't need a tax break, i need customers. that's what i need. i need customers. i need demand. not this -- >> reporter: what about the businesses in this area, though, who also need customers and maybe the customers can't get here because of this? >> this is a small portion of those people, because of the fact that most of these people got bailed out by us, we, the

people. mostly people -- >> you're talking about the banks. >> banks! the banks got bailed out, we got sold out. it's incredible. all the number of houses that are foreclosed, where people cannot even go and make repairs to their house right now because of the fact that they're waiting until something gets worked out with their mortgage. >> reporter: thanks. >> very frustrated emotional man there, talking about the banks being bailed out and people being sold out. what we are watching here is protests throughout the country, occupy wall street on the two-month anniversary, really a day of action as people try to bring forward their message. we're going to have much, much more of this breaking news story across the country after a quick break. data points. this is what we can gather from an ordinary crash test dummy. two million data points. this is what we can gather from a lexus crash test genius. [ engine revving ]

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banks got bailed out! >> two months since the occupy movement began, protests are erupting across the country. we're going to start in new york. the birthplace of the uprising. these are live pictures from zuccotti park. protesters rallying, police are swarming crowds have taken aim at wall street. the protesters tried to keep the stock exchange from opening this morning. they were not successful with that. they are still planning to try to take over the brooklyn bridge, even the doorstep of city hall, foley square. the arrests have already begun. at least 75 demonstrators have been hauled away. the standoff now continues. it's all a very fluid situation here. the tensions very high. we are there live. also on the west coast. there are more protests, more potential for problems as well. there are live pictures from los angeles here. this is where demonstrators have been flooding the streets, trying to bring traffic to a halt downtown. and then portland, oregon, this is where we've seen pictures.

an occupy group calling themselves n-17, as in november the 17th movement, they're trying to disrupt the city's banking activities. they are blocking the streets there. police have shut down that steel bridge in anticipation of crowds. i want to go to new york. that is where mary snow is on the ground. she's in the middle of the occupy wall street protests that have taken place there. mary, things have changed moment by moment. how are things now? what is the mood like? >> reporter: the mood is pretty peaceful here, suzanne, here at zuccotti park. and you can see behind me, there are protesters, in the middle here, some are just sitting around. others are beating drums. but some of these protesters have left a short time ago and our producer, julian cummings is saying that he just witnessed some clashes between police and protesters and about three or four arrests that he witnessed, just a few blocks south of here. talking to one of the spokespeople for the occupy wall

street movement down here, saying that the intention is to show that their movement is not about this peace of real estate, this park where they were evicted just two days ago by the city of new york. although they're allowed to protest, they cannot camp out overnight, bring any sleeping bags or tents. and also pointing out that there are a number of protests, even talking about protests at subway stations, right, and the brooklyn bridge. also, you know, some of these organizers are saying that there are other protests that are not, have not been talked about, and that they were going for the element of surprise, and this has been carefully planned out, culminating later on today during rush hour, you know, you've heard the city say that they are allowed to protest on the bridge, but they can't block traffic. and some of these protesters saying that's absolutely their intention, to shut down that bridge. they've had mas on that bridge before and they intend to have a

show of force later today. suzanne? >> mary, how does this play out here? if people start to move -- i mean, i assume, right, because of what the mayor had said earlier in the week, that they are allowed to stay as long as they like, as long as they don't set up tents and don't use sleeping bags, they can be there for the rest of the day and the rest of the week, right? >> reporter: exactly. and this is a privately owned park. and so far, what has been determined is that people can stay here and protest, just not camp out. and you know, suzanne, one of the things about this occupy wall street movement, having been down here several times over the last several weeks, there's really no one leader. no one spokesperson for this group. so, you know, there are a lot of different plans going on, and things change very quickly as well. >> we notice people are just walking around, observing,

taking pictures here, very much like a tourist, if you will. this is a place that i actually went and visited myself and saw for myself. outside of this park, how are people responding to what's taking place there? >> earlier today, when there were protesters blocking various streets and intersections, there were people who were fairly angry, were trying to get to work, and couldn't make their way through the streets. it was an annoyance. you know, obviously, the goal was to shut down the stock exchange. that obviously didn't happen. you know, but there's a mixture. we saw that element today of people got annoyed, not being able to get about their day. there have been a lot of tourists down here, though, as you mentioned. over the past several weeks, many people have come down here to zuccotti park to check it out, talk to people here, see what their protest is about. and you know, this is a very -- it's the heart of the financial district. this is a very busy area.

so you have people constantly streaming through here. >> and mary, aside from wanting to shut down the markets and that type of thing, you've been talking to protesters. what do the they hope to accomplish today? will they leave this site after they feel like they've brought attention to their cause? >> you know, it's unclear about what exactly happens after this. these protests had been planned because it is the two-month anniversary. do they need a physical space to quote/unquote occupy? you know, that's uncertain. and from the sense that i've gotten talking to some of them is they're not really clear whether they're going to have a central location that they occupy. but again, they're stressing that their movement is bigger than any one space, but that they definitely continue to carry forward with protests. >> all right, mary. thank you very much. we want to talk a little bit about the law enforcement aspect of all of this.

hln law enforcement specialist mike brooks, who's joining us here. so, what do the police -- what are they prepared for? what do they do? how do they handle this situation? >> there are not many cities in the united states that have handled more demonstrations -- i was in washington, d.c. for over 26 years. but new york, they handle this all the time. you have officers, some with soft hats, some with helmets. they're trying to maintain a low profile, as low a profile as possible, but still, we had four officers who were transported to the hospital by fdny ems earlier today, and you always have a faction, it seems, suzanne, in some of these groups, that some of them are out there for violence. we know for the most part, the occupy protesters, they're out there performing, let's say, nonviolent civil disobedience, but you always have, it seems like an element that wants to cause violence, and you want to be prepared for both sides. and i think the nypd is doing a good job of trying to contain the crowds, but still maintain

order. >> mike, we'll have more with you. we'll take a quick break and have some more questions. [ female announcer ] the humana walmart-preferred rx plan gives you the lowest plan premium in the country... so you can focus on what really matters. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth!

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>> a lot of passion there. that from a protester in los angeles. i want to bring back in mike brooks, hln law enforcement analyst. mike, you and i were talking about all of this. as we watch this unfold in new york and l.a., this is a lot for folks to deal with. you're talking about hundreds and hundreds of people, perhaps tens of thousands that will be marching on the brooklyn bridge. are police officers ready for this? what are we anticipating here? >> well, law enforcement, they're there to maintain the public peace, if you will, suzanne. and we've seen most of the movement by law enforcement around different cities in the united states happen at nighttime. but here in new york, you have very, very tight quarters and small streets, down around wall street, as mary snow's been showing us, you have people there who are conducting legitimate business, who were tourists coming by to see what's going on, and then you have the people who are part of the occupy protests. and it's kind of hard to distinguish between them.

i want to let people know, if you were going to go down to that area, don't go down there. it will just add to the confusion. but later today, around 5:00 or 5:30, they're supposed to go and try to block the brooklyn bridge. we saw before when they did that, there were over 700 arrests. so nypd has a dilemma, are you going to stop them at a certain point before they go on to the bridge? because, you know, you have have car traffic and pedestrian traffic on the brooklyn bridge, but are they going to stop them before they go to try to block the bridge and completely disrupt the commuter traffic in new york city? that's a decision that nypd officials have to make. >> talk about what we're seeing right here out of los angeles. we understand that the police have started to remove people. they are blocking -- they're at an intersection. they're arresting people. we see them right now taking man away. do they have to do anything there at that intersection or can they allow them to stay there for a while? how do they handle this situation? what normally happens in most

major cities, when you have demonstrators that come and sit down and block and impede traffic, what they will do is usually give them three warnings. they'll give them a warning, your first warning to get up and move. they'll give them a second warning, usually they'll give them a third warning, and then they'll go ahead and start commencing arrests. here, i think they were talking about the demonstrators possibly going towards the bank of america building, but they have sat down in the middle of figueroa, a major street in downtown, los angeles. we've got the los angeles police department, metropolitan division, which also includes their s.w.a.t. team. they specialize in crowd control and can handle this as we see some of their people now taking care of the demonstrators in the middle of the intersection. >> and how are they doing? i mean, the job that they're doing here. because it could be -- it could turn into violence, it could get ugly, but it looks like at least here in los angeles, it seems like it's -- >> you never know. i mean, i've been involved

literally in hundreds of demonstrations, we would handle demonstrations every single day. but it looks to me, lapd, they are prepared. they were prepared for the demonstrators to conduct non-violent civil disobedience and sit down in the middle of the street. and have arrest teams there who will move in after warnings are given and you see the transport vehicles. so i would give lapd, so far from what i've seen, in their preparation and also in the way that they're handling things there in los angeles. >> mike, thank you so much. >> thank you, suzanne. >> for putting it in perspective. i want to bring in richard herman out of las vegas to sort of give us the legal angle of this. richard, what would these protesters be charged with? >> oh, they could be charged with resisting arrest, disorderly -- violating the orderly peace. there's a host of crimes they could be charged with here, suzanne. but basically when mike said is right. civil disobedience, if it's done peaceful is one thing, but if

they violate the the law, if they start removing barriers and destroy public property, if they trespass, if they confront people trying to go to work, if they assault anybody, i mean, they could get, you know, the full criminal code thrown at them. one of the observations in that ireport we saw before was amazing and i think we should encourage as many ireports as we can get in on this today. but here's the situation. if the protests are peaceful, it's one thing, but you have a large number of people, and as we sit in the studio and we watch this, it's much different than mary snow, who's actually in the middle of it. and she used the words getting tense at times. you have protesters who are going to get tense. you have police officers. some of them are in their early 20s, just out of the academy, called in to duty today for this. they don't have much experience and the slightest thing could either tip off law enforcement, a young police officer, or one of these protesters, and that

could escalate and erupt. i'm not saying it is. i hope it does not happen, but the potential is there for that happening, suzanne. >> all right. richard, thank you very much. richard herman out of vegas. we'll be following this breaking news story, protesters, demonstrations across the country, largely peaceful. some situations that have turned ugly, but for the most part, we are looking at hundreds and hundreds of people, perhaps tens of thousands, though, however, gathering this afternoon to block the brooklyn bridge. we're going to keep a close eye on all of this. we'll take a really quick break. >> we want positive publicity. we want people to -- we want people to know the truth. we really want people to come out. we want the middle class, basically, to be back where the middle class was. we want big corporations and rich to be accountable. help so that the poor can make it in life. you can't change the way banking works.

just accept it, man. free ? doesn't close at five ? try nature. it's a bank. what do you want, a hug ? just accept it. hidden fees, fine print, or they'll stick it to you some other way. stay with the herd, son. accept it. just accept it. accept it. just accept it. accept it. if we miss this movie, you're dead. if you're stuck accepting banking nonsense, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

i want to take you to los angeles. this is where protesters are blocking an intersection in the financial district. these are occupy wall street protesters who are making a statement, taking a stand against some of the bailed out banks and the businesses that are there. we are watching these protests throughout the country and into the afternoon, as they are widely peaceful protests. some violence that's erupted here, but a lot of frustration. folks who want to call attention to the income inequality. let's take a listen. [ chanting ]

>> excuse us. just a second. so we can show this is live tv. we can't -- we've got to see it. >> -- our country. this is not the corporations' country. this is our country. i am a small business owner, and i am here as a small business owner because of the fact that i support the workers. and i would like to see more. i don't need a tax break! i need customers. that's what i need. i need customers. i need demand. not this -- >> reporter: what about the businesses in this area, though, who also need customers, and maybe the customers can't get here because of this? >> this is a small portion of those people, because of the fact that most of these people got bailed out by us! we, the people! mostly people are -- >> reporter: you're talking about the banks? >> the banks! the banks got bailed out, we got sold out! it's incredible. all the number of hows that are foreclosed where people cannot even go and make repairs to their house right now, because of the fact that they're waiting until something gets worked out

with their mortgage. >> reporter: thanks. >> a lot of passion there from that occupy wall street protester. that's out of los angeles. you're looking at pictures as they are arrested at an intersection that they are blocking in the financial district. the scene in los angeles, quite calm and quite peaceful. i want to go to the scene in new york and bring in paul brown of nypd. he's the deputy commissioner and explain for us what is taking place in zuccotti park? how many people have been arrested today? >> well, right now we have about 100 arrests all told beginning from earlier this morning. you had several hundred people march from chase plaza, which is across from zuccotti park, and they broke into different groups and marched in the financial district. i would say most of those individuals, you know, when they did take -- were blocking streets, complied when they were

told, like, return to the sidewalk or to allow for other pedestrians to move. but those who did not comply were arrested. and these would be maybe at a half a dozen different locations throughout the morning. and all told, that number now is about 100. >> and what were they charged with? >> disorderly conduct and often resisting arrest. >> what kind of preparations are you making for the potential of tens of thousands of people, as these demonstrators have promised, to go and march on the brooklyn bridge this afternoon? >> well, we haven't seen that many, but in any case, the brooklyn bridge actually has a pedestrian walkway that accommodates thousands of new yorkers every day. and we're perfectly happy to accommodate a lawful protest using the pedestrian walkway that's there for pedestrians. the arrests you alluded to earlier were made when they took

the roadway and stopped traffic -- automotive traffic from flowing. so there is an ability to handle a lot of people crossing the brooklyn bridge on foot. >> and commissioner, i have to ask you about this ireport sent in to us by alvaro perez. he was on his way to work, he says, when he came across this woman, his video is showing, being dragged by her hair and backpack across the street. do you know anything about this? >> well, i saw somebody -- it seemed to me that they were being dragged by their jacket and backpack, not by their hair. i don't know. it looks like somebody who had been told -- who had breached the barrier that we had set up. but i'm relying on the same video you were showing. so to me, it appears they were -- she had been pulled by her backpack and the back of her jacket, and may have been breaching that barrier there. >> i don't know if you had a

chance to see the video here, but do you think that she was being treated well by the police? do you think that was appropriate conduct? i mean, we're watching her being dragged across the street? >> i don't know the previous action, if somebody was, you know, fighting with an officer or resisting or trying to breach the barrier there. i don't want to speculate on what happened in advance of that. but we did have some arrests where people breached barriers and fought against the police. but i don't know the precipitating event. you're seeing the video from after. >> is there going to be an investigation into this? because it's very dramatic. >> well, you said she's being dragged by her hair. she wasn't. you do see her being dragged by the backpack. >> i'm just wondering if there's an investigation? >> well, it's an investigation -- we have people file complaints all the time in new york. we have an independent --

independent of the police department civilian complaint review board that investigates innoce incidents of alleged police misconduct all the tile. >> and finally, the scene there on the ground now with police, what is your sense of how it's playing out? >> well, i think so far, actually, very good. you know, when you have these kind of yelling and pushing and close-up cameras, it seems very disorderly. but when you step back and look at the events of the day, people actually went to work, were able to get to work on wall street. protesters were allowed to protest, and in the big picture, it actually went, in our view, pretty smoothly. >> all right. paul browne, nypd deputy commissioner, thank you so much for your time and on your perspective. we'll have more on these protests happening throughout the country after a quick break. in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room.

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we're following demses, occupy wall street throughout the country and new york. i want to bring in alison kosik. she covers new york stock exchange. are the markets reacting to this? give us a sense of how things look where you are? >> the markets right now have taken a decisive turn to the downside. the dow right now down 163 points and it has absolutely nothing to do what's going on outside this building. it actually has to do with what's happening in europe. still, those continuing worries about the european debt crisis, and more specifically, spain

just had an unsuccessful bond auction, where the yields were spiking. you see those worries sort of being played out in the markets here. suzanne? >> alison, the market, certainly the stock exchange, that was the target of the protesters today. was that disrupted in any way and what was it like to get down there? >> that was, of course, the plan. to try to disrupt the opening bell. that did not happen. the opening bell rang promptly at 9:30. as far as getting into the stock exchange, that's another story. but as long as you had an id, you had a way of getting through the huge numbers of nypd officers and the layer upon layer of barricades. you know, nypd, of course, stepping up their security around the perimeter of the stock exchange. to this minute, still, even though -- even the protesters are fanned out across the the area around the stock exchange and a couple of blocks down through zuccotti park. suzanne? >> alison, thank you very much. i want to bring hour carol

costello, who is talking about the occupy wall street movement and the impact it's had on politics and the message. carol? >> yeah, the question we were asking folks today, as occupy wall street changed the political conversation in america? this from james. "it definitely has changed the political talk between americans. however, not with our elected officials. wait until election day. then we'll see the change." this from dave, "it's easy to throw stones and blast the current. again, clearly the current system isn't working. but to have a lasting effect and enact really change, you need to have a clear mission moving forward." "the occupy movement was a long time coming. the tea party was the precursor, but they chose the wrong targets." and this from nicole, "this has absolutely changed the political conversation in america, especially among younger people who have been silent for much too long. i'm proud that my generation is voicing their discontent and it's my highest hope that their actions will lead to a country