White-suited sanitation workers removed tons of tents, bedding, personal belongings and garbage from what was once a grassy lawn surrounding City Hall on Wednesday after a massive police operation evicted Occupy L.A. protesters and arrested nearly 300 people.
A raid that began just after midnight by 1,400 city police officers, most wearing helmets, shields and other tactical gear, cleared the park of hundreds of people who had been camping there for two months in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street protest groups in New York City and elsewhere.
In Philadelphia, dozens of police patrolled a plaza outside City Hall after sweeping it of demonstrators early Wednesday and arresting 50. Protesters later marched from the city’s well-to-do Rittenhouse Square to police headquarters and called for a “victory march” for Friday or Saturday.
Police in recent weeks have broken up encampments in such cities as Portland, Ore., Oakland, and New York, where the protests against social inequality and corporate excesses began in mid-September. Demonstrators are still at it in Boston, Washington and other cities.
The Los Angeles operation was without violence, city leaders and the protest group said.
“What we demonstrated in this town is that working together we can respect the rights of people to speak out against the government,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.
Police did not resort to tear gas or pepper spray, as in other cities, but employed restrained force, massive numbers and an element of surprise, even though protesters were warned in advance.
Shortly after midnight, hundreds of police emerged from City Hall’s front doors, descended stairs and began flattening tents as hundreds more officers encircled the park from the street and closed in. Most of those arrested were taken into custody without a struggle. A handful of people who climbed trees were the last to be evicted, by officers in cherry-picker lift vehicles.
The Occupy L.A. website acknowledged police restraint. “There wasn’t much in the way of drama or action, over a thousand LAPD officers remaining calm and reserved throughout,” it said.
Police officer Bruce Borihanh said 292 people were arrested, all but two charged with failure to disperse. One was charged with interfering with a police officer, another with battery on an officer.
The action was in contrast to sometimes violent confrontations by L.A. police; the city paid $13 million to immigration demonstrators and others injured in a 2007 melee in MacArthur Park.
By daylight, workers were installing concrete barriers and fencing, and using shovels and heavy machinery to remove stinking refuse. The city plans to keep the area closed to assess damage. Villaraigosa said repairs could exceed $1 million.
沒有留言:
張貼留言