Al Sharpton Arrested During Sean Bell Demonstrations

***UPDATE***: AP confirms Sharpton's arrest, along with other protesters:

The Rev. Al Sharpton was among dozens arrested Wednesday as demonstrators blocked traffic at the height of the evening rush hour to protest the acquittal of three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of an unarmed black man on his wedding day.

Police said 216 people were arrested, including Sharpton, two survivors of the shooting and the slain man's fiancee. They lined up and put their hands behind their backs as police arrested them on disorderly conduct charges.

Sharpton, the two survivors and the fiancee were released about four hours later, said Sharpton spokeswoman Rachel Noerdlinger.

The demonstrators prayed, sang and chanted slogans including "no justice, no peace" as they converged on six heavily used bridges and tunnels that carry traffic to and from Manhattan island. The protests were part of a coordinated campaign to urge federal authorities to investigate the shooting of Sean Bell in November 2006.

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MSNBC is reporting that Al Sharpton has been arrested during the Sean Bell protests.

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Demonstrators plan to pray on their knees and be arrested for civil disobedience to protest the acquittals of three police officers in the death of an unarmed man shot on his wedding day, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Saturday.

The civil rights activist, who has promised to "close this city down" to protest last month's verdict, said protesters would stage a "pray-in" Wednesday at half a dozen places in the city, including the police headquarters.

Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem a day after the officers were cleared in the November 2006 death of Sean Bell, 23. Two friends were wounded in the barrage of 50 shots fired by the undercover officers and two colleagues outside a night club where Bell had just left his bachelor party.

Sean Bell was black. His death rekindled long-standing tensions over alleged racism and excessive force by police, even though two of the officers charged are also black.

Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell _ who took his name after his death _ plans to participate in Wednesday's protest and any other action "till justice is done," she told several hundred people gathered at Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters in Harlem, the historically black Manhattan neighborhood.

Sharpton said participants would gather at 3 p.m. in at least six places around the city and then fan out to undisclosed locations.

"Where we go from there is anybody's guess," Rachel Noerdlinger, Sharpton's spokeswoman, said later, adding that wherever protesters end up, "they'll be arrested praying."

The "pray-in" is only the start of whatever actions are necessary to oppose the verdict.

"It's going to be a long struggle, but the race isn't given to the swift or the strong, but to those who endure," Sharpton said.