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Journalist Chris Hedges arrested at Goldman Sachs #OccupyWallSt protest

Chris Hedges in New York City. Screen cap from YouTube.

Acclaimed columnist Chris Hedges was arrested along with 15 other protesters in New York City yesterday, following a rally and “people's trial” outside Goldman Sachs headquarters.

Hedges, a best-selling author who now acts as Senior Fellow with the Nation Institute, was joined by large crowds of Occupy Wall Street supporters including artist and activist Reverend Billy Talen.

A blog on the Wall Street Journal reported that the rally took place to hold the investment firm accountable for its various “misdeeds” against the greater American public. Among the charges were accusations of fraud, misrepresentation, and hoarding of commodities in order to jack up prices. Demonstrators also noted substantial rewards received by top executives, which they say were funded directly by government bailouts.

According to the blog post, protesters read their verdict aloud outside the building and pronounced Goldman Sachs “guilty of felony fraud, violating security laws, perjury before a Senate commission and the theft of $78 billion in taxpayer money.”

“This massive transfer of wealth upwards by the Bush and Obama administrations, now estimated at $13 trillion to $14 trillion, went into the pockets of those who carried out fraud and criminal activity rather than the victims who lost their jobs, their savings and often their homes,” said an article posted on alternative media site Truthdig.com, for which Hedges is a contributor.

In a video posted by supporters of Occupy Wall Street, hundreds of protesters can be seen marching up to Goldman Sachs’ property and being confronted by police warning them of arrest. Blocking the doorway in an act of civil disobedience, demonstrators were cuffed and taken away one by one.

Hedges has been a vocal advocate for the Occupy Wall Street movement, writing about it for multiple publications and even appearing on the talk show Charlie Rose to share his views.

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