NEW YORK – A crowd of several hundred protesters marched from Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan toward the New York Stock Exchange a few blocks away on Thursday as Occupy Wall Street demonstrators across the country promised mass gatherings to mark the movement's two-month anniversary.


Several people who sat in the street trying to block traffic were arrested. Protesters had to break into two groups as they encountered police at each intersection leading to the exchange.

The demonstrators said in a statement they want to "exchange stories instead of stocks" — stories about the income inequality and corporate malfeasance they claim is crippling the economy.

It was the first of several planned events to mark the anniversary and came two days after police dismantled the protesters' camp at the park. Events planned around city include speeches and talks with commuters at subway stations.

Occupy spokesman Bill Dobbs said Thursday, "This day is about taking our ideas to every block, every street, every subway." Organizers said on the Occupy website there were no plans to disrupt subway service.

The day of action had been planned before the city and park owners cracked down on the encampment in Zuccotti Park, but took on added importance to the protesters after tents, tarps and sleeping bags were cleared out early Tuesday and the granite plaza was cleaned for the first time since the group arrived more than two months ago.

"This is a critical moment for the movement given what happened the other night," said Paul Knick, 44, a software engineer from Montclair, N.J. "It seems like there's a concerted effort to stop the movement and I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen."

Transit officials were preparing to deal with the crush of people. After the rally near the New York Stock Exchange, protesters planned to fan out across Manhattan before gathering downtown and marching over the Brooklyn bridge.