Pepper-spraying cop accused of abusing Bush protesters in 2004

Activists have identified the senior New York Police Department officer who at the "Occupy Wall Street" protests, and it's not the first time he has been accused of civil rights abuses.

The Guardianconfirmed that the officer is Anthony Bologna, who was also accused of civil rights abuses and false arrest during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City.

Photographs of the officer's badge also suggested that Bologna was the person in question.

A file released by the hacker group Anonymous pointed to a 2007 civil rights suit filed against Bologna.

Post A. Posr, the man named as a plaintiff in that suit, was arrested during the 2004 convention although he wasn't actively taking part in the protests.

"Police contend that Posr hit the man with a rolled-up newspaper," Posr lawyer Alan Levine told The Guardian. "He said he was just talking to the guy. Bologna ordered another officer, Camejo, to arrest Posr."

Posr was taken to a make-shift detention facility at Pier 57, where he was held until the protests were over.

Officer Tulio Camejo was also named in the suit.

"A bunch of us were wondering if any of the same guys were involved," Levine recalled.

Questions about Bologna appeared to go back to 2001, when the People's Law Collective claimed that arrests he made helped to incite a Mayday riot.

Chelsea Elliott, one of the pepper-sprayed activists, described her ordeal to Animal New York.

"I will march again," she said. "But I'll wear sunglasses and a fucking bandana."

Watch this video from Animal New York, broadcast Sept. 26, 2011.

Interview with Pepper Sprayed Protester Chelsea Elliott from ANIMALnewyork.com on Vimeo.