Police arrested more than 100 protesters who refused orders to disperse on Monday, as at least 1,000 demonstrators gathered in New York City to demand that Wall Street start pitching in cash to stop climate change and that polluting companies clean up their act. The arrests came a day after tens of thousands of people marched peacefully through the city to call for governments to act on global warming, ahead of this week’s U.N. summit on the issue.

A physical confrontation came near the end of a day of boisterous but peaceful demonstrations, styled after the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011 and dubbed “Flood Wall Street,” in keeping with the climate change theme. Many protesters wore blue.

After gathering in Battery Park, at the southern tip of Manhattan island, the protesters walked north on Broadway, stopping traffic along the way. They sat down in the street, but police did not issue orders to leave.

Just as rush hour began in downtown Manhattan on Monday evening, police used barricades and officers on horseback to block protesters from entering Wall Street itself.

A brief but intense scuffle ensued, and at least one officer could be seen using what appeared to be pepper-spray on about 10 people in the crowd of demonstrators. One man doused water on his face to stop the sting.

"We were trying to hold our ground, the police freaked out and pepper-sprayed me and the whole front line," said Anthony Robledo, 25, from Queens, New York. "I can still taste it in my mouth. It tastes like really sh--ty hot sauce."

Soon tensions eased at the intersection of Wall St. and Broadway, even as the demonstrators blocked Broadway in both directions. Some ordered pizza while others kicked around a soccer ball, and there was talk of staying all night.

But at 6:45 p.m., police issued a dispersal order to the protesters. In response, approximately 100 of them sat down, preparing for police to take them away, as an officer with a megaphone repeated the dispersal order several times.

Soon after, police pushed to the sidewalk hundreds of other protesters who did not want to risk arrest, and a column of uniformed officers walked toward the seated demonstrators.

The police handcuffed the protesters and led them to a waiting police bus in groups of three to five. The process took about an hour and none of the protesters appeared to resist the officers.

Protesters on the sidewalk cheered as police put handcuffed demonstrators in the waiting bus.

Notable arrestees included a man wearing a polar bear suit and two women dressed as Captain Planet, a TV cartoon character who fought polluters with a loyal team of teenage environmental crusaders.

Police spokesman Detective James Duffy said 102 demonstrators were arrested and would be charged with disorderly conduct, after they sat down in the street when ordered to leave. Another four protesters who were in wheelchairs were issued criminal summonses to appear in court.