Police arrest several Occupy LA protestors
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Xinhua, November 29, 2011
Several people were arrested during the Los Angeles Police's Monday morning actions of clearing the major traffic intersections and streets around the City Hall where several hundred of the Occupy Los Angeles protestors were still gathering after a midnight deadline of eviction.
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Occupy Los Angeles protestors shout slogans in Los Angeles, the United States, on Nov. 27, 2011. As the midnight deadline for eviction of Occupy Los Angeles protesters on the lawn of the City Hall passed, the police, in the just beginning of Monday, blocked roads around the area and confronted with protestors who vowed to stay. [Xinhua] |
Police said most protestors complied with requests to clear the streets around City Hall to accommodate morning traffic. But a handful of arrests have been made.
"So far it's been peaceful," Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Andy Smith told media.
One man was put in plastic cuffs and led away by police officers just after 5 a.m. (1300 GMT) for staying on the street instead of going onto the sidewalk or into the encampment as most of them did. Several others were arrested for throwing a bottle and sticks at officers.
Police said clearing the streets was their main concern, and they did not plan to move into the park if the protesters returned there. But they said that the encampment would be dismantled eventually.
Several hundred Occupy LA protestors stayed overnight at the lawn and streets near the City Hall although Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had set 12:01 a.m. (0801 GMT) Monday as the deadline of their eviction.
Villaraigosa issued a statement a few hours before the deadline Sunday night, saying police "will allow campers ample time to remove their belongings peacefully and without disruption."
Only a handful of protestors packed up and left the area before the midnight deadline.
The encampment in Los Angeles is the largest remaining in the United States. Camp removals in some places, including New York City and Oakland in California, have resulted in clashes between police and protesters who refused to leave.
Los Angeles police had paid a price for the excessive use of force on peaceful demonstrators. The city has paid out more than 12 million U.S. dollars in civil settlements since officers fired foam bullets and struck people with batons to disperse a crowd at a MacArthur Park rally for immigrant rights on May Day 2007.
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