Dozens Arrested at Protest In the Financial District

Dozens of anti-war protesters were arrested yesterday as they attempted to block the entrance to the New York Stock Exchange, police said.

Protest organizers said they chose the financial district for their rally because they believe Wall Street and the stock exchange are war profiteers. Police arrested 44 on charges of disorderly conduct.

The protesters met early yesterday morning at 55 Water St., and later moved to the front of the stock exchange at the corner of Wall Street and Broad Street for what organizers called "a nonviolent civil disobedience action."

Thirty-nine protesters had been released by yesterday afternoon, a member of one of the anti-war groups that organized the protest, Frida Berrigan, told the Associated Press. She is a member of the War Resisters League. The protesters who had not been released were to stand before a judge today, she said.

About a week ago, police arrested 20 anti-war protesters for trespassing inside an Armed Forces recruiting office on Chambers Street in TriBeCa.

On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq, anti-war protesters across the country poured into the streets yesterday. A large anti-war organization, United For Peace and Justice, led protests in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Salt Lake City.