Occupy Wall Street protest: NYPD accused of heavy-handed tactics

Occupy Wall Street protest: NYPD accused of heavy-handed tactics:Force criticised by protesters, who claim they were deliberately led on to road before being penned in and arrested

The New York police department has come under criticism for heavy-handed tactics during the Occupy Wall Street march over Brooklyn bridge, after more than 700 protesters were held for several hours.

Activists, as well as commentators following the protest against inequality and corporate excess, claim the response of the city's police force to the peaceful event was vastly out of proportion. Almost 1,000 people have been arrested in two weeks – substantially more than the number of financiers who led the world into the 2008 economic meltdown.

As Salman Rushdie put it in a tweet: "The world's economy has been wrecked by these rapacious traders. Yet it is the protesters who are jailed....."