"Some officers seemed to be totally exhausted and not motivated to be involved; called in on their day off for what they were told was a 'riot' (according to an officer who talked to us), they didn't understand why they were then instructed to arrest 700 peaceful protestors rather than allow us to disperse or finish the march. Many talked to us, asked us why we were involved. I told my story to a couple of them, and they were interested, especially after hearing about my retired cop father's experiences due to the economic collapse.
"PO Haley (our [arresting officer]) [...] explained that he had been called to the bridge for a 'riot situation'. He felt like it was 'pointless' that we were all arrested, a sentiment echoed by several other officers."
-- deviantbeauty, 2011-10-02, about being arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge 2011-10-01 as part of the Occupy Wall Street protest (and how she wound up in the group that got arrested in the first place)
[I find the comments about being called in to respond to a "riot" interesting, especially in conjunction with a report I saw elsewhere that folks holding an event on the other side of the bridge were urged by police (around 14:00) to finish quickly because they planned to close the bridge at 15:00, half an hour before the protest march started at 15:30.]