Tue Oct 4, 2011 6:00pm EDT * Demonstrations from Los Angeles to Boston * Unions joining the fray By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Anti-Wall Street protests thattook shape in New York weeks ago, prompting hundreds ofarrests, have spread across the United States with oneorganizer saying their message had “captured everyone’simagination.” Demonstrations have sprouted from Los Angeles to Boston,and in plenty of cities in between, led by protesters voicingdiscontent and anger over such issues as high unemployment,home foreclosures and the 2008 corporate bailouts.[ID:nN1E79300C] Washington will be the site of a protest on Thursday,according to organizer Kevin Zeese, who said economicinsecurity was encouraging people to take to the streets. “Just like the Vietnam war draft made the war morepersonal, economic insecurity is making the economic policiesof this country more personal,” Zeese said. The New York protests, working under the banner of “We arethe 99 percent,” have become bolder since they started on Sept.17 and while they have been largely peaceful, aside fromoccasional scuffles, they have sometimes challenged police. On Saturday, more than 700 people were arrested whendemonstrators blocked traffic lanes on the Brooklyn Bridgewhile attempting an unauthorized march across the span. In Florida, a weekend protest drew a crowd carrying signsreading “End Corporate Welfare” and “It is Time for aRevolution.” Another protest was planned for Tampa on Thursday. Unions were also joining the fray. The New York branch ofthe Transport Workers Union asked a federal judge on Tuesday tobar police from using city bus drivers to transport protesterswho were under arrest. The judge denied the request. The nation’s largest union of nurses, National NursesUnited, said it would join a New York march on Wednesday. AndHealthcare-Now, which advocates for a national single-payersystem, said it was joining the Washington protest to “demandhuman needs over corporate greed.” “This could have legs to it,” said author Michael Lewis,who has written books about Wall Street and more recently theglobal economy. TENT CITIES The New York protesters, camped out in Zuccotti Park indowntown Manhattan, have sometimes been dismissed by WallStreet passersby or cast in the mainstream media as naivestudents and mischief-makers without realistic goals. Members of the group have vowed to stay at the park throughthe winter. The protesters have complained of a heavy-handed policeresponse to the protests. Police say they gave protesters amplewarning that their march across the Brooklyn Bridge was illegalbefore they started making arrests. Attorneys for a nonprofit advocacy group called thePartnership for Civil Justice Fund filed a federal lawsuitagainst Mayor Michael Bloomberg, police and other officialscharging the constitutional rights of the demonstratorsarrested on the Brooklyn Bridge had been violated. The suit said New York had “engaged in a premeditated,planned, scripted, and calculated effort to sweep the streetsof protesters and disrupt a growing protest movement.” The protests appeared to be gaining steam across thenation. In Los Angeles, protesters camped out in front of CityHall. They too have pitched a tent city, and organizers saythey will be there for the foreseeable future. In Boston, protesters have set up a make-shift camp in thecity’s financial district, with a few dozen tents pitchedacross from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston building.Protesters have been well behaved, Boston police said. “Occupy Wall Street has captured everyone’s imagination,”said protester Larry Hales in New York. “One criticism of us has been that our demands are notclear, but I think for most people, the message of why WallStreet is the target is very clear,” he said. “It’s the bankingcapital of the world.” Protests have also popped up in Chicago, where around 50protesters have gathered at the heart of the financial districtaround lunchtime every day, banging drums and holding signs. In St. Louis, about two dozen people carrying signsprotested on Tuesday at a downtown federal building, about fourblocks from the city’s landmark Arch. “People are starting to notice that this movement is notjust a flash mob,” said Victoria Sobel, 21, an art student whohas been with Occupy Wall Street since it began in September. “I think labor and community organizations held back atfirst because they wanted to see our commitment. They wanted tosee how serious we were,” she added. “We are elated that thisis spreading. If nothing else comes from this, at least westarted a dialogue.” (Additional reporting by Ray Sanchez, Basil Katz and Mark Eganin New York, Lauren Keiper and Roz Krasny in Boston, MarySlosson in Los Angeles, Bruce Olson in St. Louis and MaryWisniewski in Chicago; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and VickiAllen)