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Summary Police cleared the Occupy Los Angeles camp and arrested more than 200 who defied orders to leave.
More than 1,400 police officers, some in riot gear, cleared the Occupy Los Angeles camp early Wednesday, driving protesters from a park around City Hall and arresting more than 200 who defied orders to leave.Similar raids in Philadelphia led to 50 arrests, but the scene in both cities was relatively peaceful.Police in Los Angeles and Philadelphia moved in on Occupy Wall Street encampments under darkness in an effort to clear out some of the longest-lasting protest sites since crackdowns ended similar occupations across the country.The moves came after other cities including New York where the movement was born acted to remove campers on grounds their tent cities were health hazards and disrupted local business.Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck praised the officers and the protesters for their restraint and the peaceful way the eviction was carried out.Officers flooded down the steps of City Hall just after midnight and started dismantling the two-month-old camp two days after a deadline passed for campers to leave the park. Officers in helmets and wielding batons and guns with rubber bullets converged on the park from all directions with military precision and began making arrests after several orders were given to leave.There were no injuries and no drugs or weapons were found during a search of the emptied camp, which was strewn with trash after the raid. City workers put up concrete barriers to wall off the park while it is restored. By morning, the park was clear of protesters, said LAPD officer Cleon Joseph.The raid in Los Angeles came after demonstrators with the movement in Philadelphia marched through the streets after being evicted from their site.About 40 protesters were arrested after refusing to clear a street several blocks northeast of City Hall, said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey. They were lined up in cuffs and loaded on to buses by officers. Six others were arrested earlier after remaining on a street police that police tried to clear.
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