Cornel West Arrested

By James Oliphant Los Angeles times.

October 16, 2011, 7:07 p.m.

Liberal professor Cornel West was one of 19 people arrested on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Sunday, according to the Associated Press, as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

West, a former Harvard University professor now teaching at Princeton University, took part Sunday in the dedication of the monument to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., an event that was delayed from August because of Hurricane Irene. He then, according to media reports, moved on to a protest at the home of the high court.

A well-known commentator on civil rights issues, West recently got into a TV spat with presidential candidate Herman Cain, telling Cain to "get off the symbolic crack pipe."

In Washington, the anti-corporate protest movement is known as Occupy D.C.

Kathy Arberg, a spokeswoman for the court, said Sunday evening that "19 people with Occupy D.C. were arrested at the court this afternoon by Supreme Court police and charged" under federal law. She did not divulge the name of West or any other protester arrested.

Global protests over the weekend led to the arrests of more than 250 people in the United States and worldwide.