Occupy Wall Street protesters in NYC proclaim solidarity with demonstrators in Oakland, Atlanta

BY Kerry Burke, John Doyle and Joe Kemp
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Thursday, October 27th 2011, 2:11 AM

John Minchillo/AP

Occupy Wall Street protesters march in solidarity on streets of Manhattan on Wednesday night.

Sam Costanza for News

Protester is arrested by NYPD on Wednesday night.

Occupying Wall Street

Do you support the protesters?

	Yes. They're fighting for a good cause.
	No, they have no idea what they're doing.
	I'm not sure.

Protesters stormed through downtown Manhattan on Wednesday night to proclaim solidarity with fellow demonstrators who were forced out of encampments in Oakland, Calif., and Atlanta, Ga.

The drama unfolded when about 400 Occupy Wall Street protesters marched from Zuccotti Park to City Hall only to be met by a swarm of cops about 9 p.m.

The crowd quickly rerouted and began walking up Broadway towards Union Square only to be met by a police barricade near Reade St.

As organizers tried in vain to call off the march, scores of demonstrators splintered off and broke through a wall of cops - some of them even swiping a roll of orange netting used to kettle the large crowd.

"We wanted to go to City Hall to show solidarity with Oakland," said Katama Rose, 22. "We wanted to come out and talk about how that wasn't okay."

But when protesters were held at bay by cops, "that's when everything broke loose," Rose said.

At least 10 people were arrested as the wild mob took to the streets towards Union Square chanting, "Oakland to NYC, stop police brutality."

The group clogged traffic for several blocks in Soho and Greenwich Village after some urged fellow protesters to disobey police orders to stay on the sidewalks.

"We were blocking traffic, linked arm to arm," said Patrick Bruner, 23.

Andy Davenport, 26, encouraged protesters to ignore police "because it's in direct contradiction to the law," he said. "This is how you fight the police state."

The protesters dispersed once they made it to Union Square about 11 p.m. and many took the subway back to Zuccotti Park, where tensions had died down considerably.

The demonstrators were rallying for support after hundreds of protesters were pushed out of their encampment near the Oakland city hall by an army of cops and tear gas.

Several people were injured during the clash, including Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen, who suffered a cracked skull in the chaos.

The 24-year-old Marine was in critical condition after he was struck by an unknown object. It was not clear who threw the object, but Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said the incident would be probed as vigorously as a fatal police shooting, the Associated Press reported.