Over 700 protesters were arrested on Saturday for blocking traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge as they took part in the 15th day of the Occupy Wall Street protest.

Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless protest movement comprised mostly of Americans under 30 years old who are upset with anything from rampant foreclosures, to climate change, to the sluggish economy, from the low number of vegan farms, to the high unemployment rate, from the war in Afghanistan, to high gasoline prices, from corporate greed, to the general state of America and the planet.

If that sounds like a loose spray of dissatisfaction, it is an apt description of the varied grievances motivating the Occupy Wall Street protesters. In just over two weeks, Occupy Wall Street has become a force that countless disaffected protesters can associate themselves with, and during a year when the lion’s share of Americans say the nation is off track, there is an abundance of new potential recruits.

Late last week, veteran activist Bill McNulty shared his view of the protests with Slate reporters on location in downtown Manhattan: “Generally speaking, the population is thoroughly taken by the myth that things are as they are being presented to them. Now that the reality is hitting them so hard—their pensions are disappearing, their houses are being foreclosed on—they’re organizing,” he said. McNulty had no complaint with the variety of causes motivating the demonstrators. “All these diverse messages here, they’re in the process of being connected to Wall Street.”
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