After her arrest at an Occupy Wall Street protest in December, Samantha Wilson expected to be booked, fingerprinted and subjected to a mug shot. But when a police officer raised a small device to her face and began photographing her eyes, she declined.

Ms. Wilson, 32, said her refusal resulted in a threat from the officer.

“He said: ‘It’s not really optional. It’ll take you longer to get out of here if you don’t do it,’ ” she recalled.

It's lunchtime on a Thursday, and Paula Segal wants to go to Chase Manhattan Plaza, a large open space that takes up a whole city block between Nassau and William streets in the heart of the financial district.

The plaza, which was given landmark status by the city in 2009, is a popular lunch spot for those who work in the neighborhood and is home to celebrated public art like Jean Dubuffet's tree sculptures and Isamu Noguchi's Sunken Garden.

"Someone needs to get over to Bank of America."

The shout—aimed at a handful of National Lawyers Guild members gathered around a folding table—came from a group of some 200 people bunched together in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, a grassless plaza that is the headquarters of the month-old, anti-corporate demonstration known as Occupy Wall Street.

"I'll go," said Zainab Akbar.

“NYPD! NYPD! JP Morgan doesn’t give a f*ck about you!”