The United Nations envoy for freedom of expression is drafting an official communication to the U.S. government demanding to know why federal officials are not protecting the rights of Occupy demonstrators whose protests are being disbanded -- sometimes violently -- by local authorities.

Lawyers say authorities are citing obscure codes as pretexts for crackdowns, violating the first amendment in the process

A civil rights group sent a letter to Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance asking him to drop charges against 700 Occupy Wall Street protesters who were arrested during a march over the Brooklyn Bridge on Oct. 1.

A union representing 5,000 New York City Police Department sergeants blasted Occupy Wall Street protesters on Thursday and threatened to sue them should they injure police.

Ben Becker, 27, sat in the back of a police-commandeered transit bus on Saturday night, his hands placed tightly behind his back in plastic cuffs. This was a scenario Becker knew well.

A group of people arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge as part of the Occupy Wall Street protests last week filed a suit against New York City on Tuesday, alleging that officers had violated their constitutional rights by luring them into a trap and then arresting them.

The Washington, D.C.-based Partnership for Civil Justice Fund has filed a federal class action lawsuit against New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, the city, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, and a bunch of unidentified cops and law enforcement agents over Saturday's controversial Brooklyn Bridge mass arrest.