Police arrest 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters in front of New York Stock Exchange

New York police arrested scores of "Occupy Wall Street" protesters outside the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

At least 177 people were arrested during the morning during a demonstration aimed at shutting down New York's financial district to mark two months since the movement against corporate greed began.

They had hoped to prevent financial workers from reaching their offices, but police barricaded the narrow streets around Wall Street ahead of time. The New York Stock Exchange opened on time and operated normally.

Police arrested the protesters after they blocked an intersection in the city's financial district and refused to leave.

Nearly a thousand people turned out for the morning -- much less than was hoped for. But as the protest eventually made its way to Foley Park, there were an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people in the crowd.

Watch video, courtesy of Francis Reynolds, below: