The Post is reporting this evening that the NYPD arrested three men who were involved in last night's melee on Astor Place and St. Mark's Place.
The Post, who in the headline refer to the men as "anti-government goons," reported that "a gang of 25 authority-haters, some wearing masks, wielded 8-foot-long metal pipes and smashed the windows of the Starbucks at Astor Place and Lafayette Street, police said."
The NYPD news release notes that Starbucks patrons hid under tables during the incident. However, a store manager told amNewYork "there was no damage done and that the only 'panic' was outside the store."
The Post article says that two police officers were treated for minor injuries; an NYPD news release on the incident cites one injury.
Gothamist points out that one of the men arrested is Alexander Penley, an attorney who has been an Occupy Wall Street organizer. Police took one man in custody at Starbucks. Police arrested Penley and Nicholas Thommen at the Sixth Street Community Center about 90 minutes later. The two were attending a party related to the 2012 NYC Anarchist Book Fair. Among the reported charges: "assaulting a police officer, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest and inciting a riot."
According to various reports, the group that swept through the neighborhood last night was not associated with #OWS.
Previously.
