Thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters fanned out across New York City Tuesday, heralding a fresh start for the anticorporate movement after months of inaction but falling short of a goal to convince large numbers to ditch work for a day.

The demonstrations were bolstered by some large city labor unions, which obtained permits for the protest but didn't support organizers' call for a general strike. As many as 6,000 people were in Union Square in the afternoon, before marching to the Financial District, a law-enforcement official said.

At least 50 people were arrested for offenses ranging from disorderly conduct to a 24-year-old man who allegedly wrote the world "shame" on the side of a building at 545 Fifth Ave., a law-enforcement official said.

The marches led the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to reroute several buses and temporarily bypass two stops on the J line in Lower Manhattan. Traffic was halted on many streets. But otherwise city life went on normally, with most people going to work and school.

The demonstrations were largely peaceful and recalled some of the unpredictable events the movement staged while it was based in an open-air encampment for two months last year in Zuccotti Park. There were drum circles in Bryant Park, sidewalk protests that spilled into traffic and a march across the Williamsburg Bridge.