New York (CNN) -- Protests swelled in cities nationwide Friday as police forces struggled to either corral or remove demonstrators from downtown parks and plazas in the latest development of the monthlong Occupy Wall Street movement.





Scores of protesters were arrested in Denver, Seattle, San Diego and New York, though reports of violence were rare. CNN iReporters sent in photos and video from "occupy" protests across several American cities.





In San Diego, CNN affiliate KFMB broadcast images of police detaining demonstrators as they gathered amid tents and tarps strewn about a downtown plaza.





Protesters appeared to refuse to leave the area, sitting in columns atop the plastic tarps and yelling "stay down" as police tried to remove them from the scene. At one point, police used pepper spray to break up the crowd.





"We understand people have a right to protest (but), somewhere along the line, people have a right to conduct business," San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne told CNN affiliate KGTV.





Police eventually removed tents that had been set up by protestors and cleared the area by late afternoon.





In Denver, authorities said 24 people were arrested as CNN affiliate KMGH broadcast aerial video of police detaining protesters in a downtown section of the city.





Colorado State Police spokesman Mike Baker said the demonstrators could be identified as two distinct groups: The first was a part of what he described as the local "Occupy" group, which maintained close communication with law enforcement during the demonstration. The second, he said, was a more "radical" faction.





"These were the ones (police) came into trouble with today," Baker said.





Most of those arrested in Denver were charged with unlawful conduct on state property, he said, while one other person was charged with simple assault. Another protester was arrested for impeding traffic.





In Seattle, police in riot gear rounded up and arrested 41 demonstrators who gathered in a city park, said police spokeswoman Renee Witt.





In New York , Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said law officers arrested 14 demonstrators after they sat in roadways to block traffic, overturned trash bins, knocked over a police scooter and hurled bottles.





Wesleyan University student Ben Doernberg, who attended Friday's protest in Manhattan's financial district, shot video of at least one demonstrator being taken to the ground by police.





The video captures a police officer pressing his night stick against the back of the protester's neck during the arrest. The man is seen face down on the pavement.





He can be heard screaming after what Doernberg described as an earlier incident in which the man's leg was allegedly run over by a police motorcycle.





"I saw a number of other people being shoved or pushed with batons," Doernberg said. "I saw another officer punching people."





New York police disputed the claim that the man had been run over by a police vehicle. Independent witnesses from the New York Daily News and The Associated Press saw the man intentionally place his legs under the scooter, Browne said in a statement.





"(The man) had repeatedly disregarded lawful orders to get out of the street and onto the sidewalk, and then feigned being run over before kicking over the police scooter. He was arrested for felony criminal mischief, obstructing governmental administration, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest," the deputy police commissioner said.





The demonstrations, meanwhile, seemed to pick up steam across the country by late Friday afternoon.





CNN affiliate WDIV in Detroit showed aerial images of protesters rallying in city streets. An oversize sign fixed to the outside of a building read, "Outsource to Detroit."





Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons called the protests "inspirational."





"People want this country to be better," he told CNN. "They want the money out of Washington." He said he believes the U.S. government remains largely controlled by corporations.





New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also addressed the concerns again earlier Friday during his weekly radio show.





He said Brookfield Office Properties -- the real estate firm that owns Zuccotti Park, considered a home base for
Have reports of violence been rare? Police arrested how many demonstrators in Seattle? What did police use against San Diego protesters? What were people in New York arrested for? How many people? How many were arrested in New York? How many were arrested in Seattle? Police used what against protesters?
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question: Have reports of violence been rare?, answer: of | question: Police arrested how many demonstrators in Seattle?, answer: 24 | question: What did police use against San Diego protesters?, answer: pepper spray | question: What were people in New York arrested for? How many people?, answer: 14 | question: How many were arrested in New York?, answer: 14 | question: How many were arrested in Seattle?, answer: 41 | question: Police used what against protesters?, answer: pepper spray