Washington protesters hit by car, no visible injuries: police

(Reuters) - Three activists protesting economic inequality were struck by a car and mildly injured late on Friday night as they attempted to block traffic near a gathering of conservatives in the nation's capital, police said on Saturday.

The protesters, who were transported to area hospitals with no signs of visible injury, were cited for obstructing traffic late on Friday night, said Araz Alali, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department.

"The driver saw he had the green light and the protesters then basically jumped in front of the vehicle to block traffic," Alali said. "It appears that the protesters jumped into the path of the vehicle."

Angry protesters swarmed the vehicle after the three were struck, police said. The group refused to disperse and police arrested three other protesters, who were charged with "failure to obey," Alali said.

"My officers attempted to get the protesters to leave the roadway, they repeatedly refused to do so," Alali said.

The incident occurred on Friday as hundreds of protesters affiliated with the "Occupy DC" movement gathered near a convention center in Washington, D.C. where the conservative "Defending the American Dream Summit" was being held.

Occupy DC is a satellite group of the Occupy Wall Street movement that began when protesters set up camp in a Lower Manhattan park on September 17 to protest over economic inequality and high unemployment.

Since then, protests have spread across the nation and world, leading to hundreds of arrests. They have been mostly peaceful except for a few incidents.

(Reporting by Eric Johnson in Chicago; Additional reporting by Roy Strom in Chicago; Editing by Greg McCune)