Quieter Occupy protests after day of action

The day after raucous Occupy Wall Street protests led to clashes with police, relative calm returned to Zuccotti Park.

About 300 people gathered Friday night at the lower Manhattan plaza -- some discussing the problem of students burdened with college loans, others reciting personal stories of economic hardship.

Earlier in the day, about 50 Occupy Wall Street protesters marched to Foley Square near City Hall to join a peaceful demonstration against police surveillance of Muslims.

Protesters at NYPD headquarters called for an end to police infiltrating mosques and spying in Muslim neighborhoods.

Some held signs calling for the ouster of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly as the crowd chanted, "Five, six, seven, eight, stop the spying, stop the hate."

"Being Muslim does not negate our nationality," Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid told the crowd of about 500. "We are unapologetically Muslim and uncompromisingly American."

Police officials have defended their surveillance practices, saying they are needed to protect the city against terrorism since 9/11.

The events Friday stood in stark contrast to Thursday's huge protests that made headlines around the world.

Those demonstrations began with unsuccessful attempts to disrupt the New York Stock Exchange and ended with a mass march across the Brooklyn Bridge. Police reported making 252 arrests, mostly for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

As of Friday afternoon, about 35 protesters had been processed and released from jail, said Cristina Lee, a Brooklyn Law School student working with the National Lawyers Guild, a liberal group representing the protesters and monitoring the protests and police response.

Released protesters were met by "jail support" teams composed of people such as Jesse Scarlato, 24, of Montpelier, Vt., who took off from work to join Occupy Wall Street and who was himself arrested when cops cleared Zuccotti Park earlier in the week.

"We give them a hug, we make sure they have some food -- whatever they need, really," said Scarlato, who's studying to be a high school teacher.

Demonstrators had good reason to stay out of the park Thursday night, with temperatures plunging to the low 30s.

Wearing a black cape bearing the slogan "OWS Till Death" and a copy of the Constitution dangling from his jacket, Chris Guerra, 27, was one of the stalwarts.

The artist-painter from Newark, N.J., who said he's been at the park for 49 consecutive days, said he's seeking "economic justice . . . to make sure the people that have a lot of money pay their damn taxes."

With Kery Murakami and

The Associated Press