Occupy supporters turn out in their thousands in protests across US

Occupy protests in New York may have dominated the headlines on Thursday, but demonstrations took place across America, with thousands turning out to show support for those evicted from Zuccotti Park.

In St Louis, Missouri, about 1,000 protesters attended a rally in the downtown area of the city before marching through the downtown area. Occupy St Louis was evicted last week from its campsite near the Gateway Arch.

The local stltoday.com website reported that there were 14 arrests as of midnight Friday, but that even the arrests "were peaceful, with several protesters engaging authorities in playful banter as the protesters were escorted in plastic handcuffs to nearby police vans".

The arrests came after people blocked the eastbound entrance to the Martin Luther King bridge.

The demonstrations continued Thursday night, with a group of about 50 protesters marching down the middle of Market Street from the city government area to Kiener Plaza, the local protesters' home base, and where 27 members were arrested last week after refusing to obey the park curfew.

Marchers carried a tent and planted it in the middle of the plaza, only to remove it under police command. There were no more arrests. Protesters also unfurled two large banners off the top of the former municipal courts building next to city hall that read "Occupy" and "Everywhere."

In Seattle, where 84-year-old Dorli Rainey was teargassed on Tuesday – prompting criticism of police – about 600 protesters gathered for a "jobs not cuts" rally on a bridge near the University of Washington, the Associated Press said.

The Seattle Times saidthat despite "snarling traffic" protesters were escorted from the bridge by police without conflict.

The Thursday rally started at about 3.30pm in the triangle near Husky Stadium and the UW Medical Center, with about 700 people in rain and near-freezing weather.

Among them were union workers, students, Occupy Seattle activists and clergy. The rally was organized by Working Washington, a coalition of labor and community groups.

In LA protesters' bid to occupy the Bank of America plaza was thwarted when police began arresting "dozens" of people, the LA Times said.

The protesters began taking over the plaza about 1pm after a march from City Hall. They set up tents on a grassy area and locked arms, where they faced down police. But the property owner informed the LAPD that it was closing the park, which is private property, and requested that anybody who remained be arrested for trespassing.

LA weekly was liveblogging the action at the plaza as it happened and said arrests began at 4.30pm. Earlier it reported that protesters had formed "human walls at all entrances to the Bank of America plaza".

It reported that about 20 tents were pitched at the plaza, with around 200 to 300 police officers later arriving at the scene – some with tear gas. After the arrests at 4.45pm came something many Occupy protesters across the country have become accustomed to recently – the camp being dismantled. LA weekly wrote:

The LAPD is ripping up the tents and trying to push them off the side of the raised plaza - to shrieks of disapproval from the protesters.

Elsewhere, according to the Associated Press, at least 300 people gathered at Chicago's Thompson Center, giving speeches in English and Spanish. The protest was focused on jobs, with signs reading: "We need jobs, not cuts" and "Jobs, schools, equality: end the wars."

About 100 marched through downtown Denver, chanting slogans and calling for the recall of Mayor Michael Hancock for his decision to have police remove illegally-pitched tents and other items from the Occupy Denver campsite last weekend.

In Dallas, more than a dozen people were arrested when police shut down their six-week-old camp near City Hall.

Hundreds of Occupy demonstrators in Portland, Oregon, gathered on a major bridge and later massed in front of a Chase bank branch downtown. Police arrested at least 30 people.

Police in Las Vegas arrested 21 protesters who sat down in the street outside a federal courthouse after they ignored warnings to leave.