The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. October 4, 2011 Major Unions Throw Support Behind Occupy Wall Street Protest ------------------------------------------------------------- In New York City, the ongoing protest against corporate greed and economic inequality known as "Occupy Wall Street" is entering its nineteenth day with increasing union support. On Monday, the SEIU 1199 healthcare workers union issued a statement of support for the demonstration promising to help feed protesters and send nurses to train those providing first aid. The healthcare workers union joins the Transport Workers Union members in New York City in supporting the growing movement. On Monday, attorneys for the TWU attempted to obtain a temporary federal restraining order to prevent the police from commandeering buses operated by its members to ferry protesters who had been arrested. Over the weekend, the NYPD used at least three city buses to transport some of of the more than 700 protesters arrested attempting to cross the Brooklyn Bridge. Tony Murphy is an activist with the Bail Out the People Movement. Tony Murphy, Bail Out the People Movement: "We're here to say that the NYPD and Mayor Bloomberg has to keep their hands off "Occupy Wall Street," stop harassing them, stop with the mass arrests. Liberty Plaza, which is the center of "Occupy Wall Street," is a stone's throw away from Goldman Sachs. If they want to arrest somebody, they should go down to Wall Street, down to the Stock Exchange and arrest the people who are busy clearing out elderly people from their homes, hurting people's pensions. These are the people who are really hurting people and should be arrested." The unions and protesters are gearing up for a large march on Wednesday that will be bolstered by walkouts at major universities in New York City, including City University of New York and New York University. .