Portland police dismantle 'Occupy' camps

Police in Denver and Salt Lake City swept anti-Wall Street protesters from their camps as demonstrators and supporters in Portland, Ore., flooded a city park area in defiance of an eviction order before dispersing on Sunday.

By late morning, Portland police had taken control of both Chapman and Lownsdale squares, the Oregonian reported. They encountered almost no resistance as they took down tents in both downtown parks.

Livestream video from NBC station KGW showed official removing debris and cleaning the parks.

Hours earlier, defiant crowds swelled to thousands and went toe-to-toe with police after closing Southwest Third Avenue and Madison Street overnight.

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Police in riot gear warned them they would be arrested if they didn't clear the street. At 5 a.m. PST, when parks reopened, protesters started clearing the streets, which were reopened to traffic.

Protesters cheered and chanted "this is what victory looks like" after the standoff over the eviction notice, the Oregonian reported.

One protester was arrested and one officer was injured in the largely peaceful confrontation.

Mayor Sam Adams tweeted "Thanks to all who helped open the streets."

Adams had ordered the camp shut down, citing unhealthy conditions and the encampment's attraction of drug users and thieves.

Police numbers shifted throughout the night, but they showed no signs of moving against the protesters.

Around 4 a.m. a line of about 200 police stretched across a street and in front of a federal courthouse.

Protesters put up barricades of pallets, couches and chairs at Southwest Main Street, but they were taken down as the crowd retook the parks.

When crowds thinned, police moved in.

The mood at the parks on Sunday was "peaceful and respectful" after some raucous marching overnight, said City Council member Nick Fish.

"It's almost like the fever broke last night," he said.

Parks Bureau staff will erect fences around the squares Sunday, officially closing them to the public, Fish said.

Protesters warned
For the second time in as many days, city officials in Oakland, California, warned protesters Saturday that they do not have the right to camp in the plaza in front of City Hall and face immediate arrest.

The eviction notices come as officials across the country urged an end to similar gatherings in the wake of three deaths in different cities, including two by gunfire.

Demands for Oakland protesters to pack up increased after a man was shot and killed Thursday near the encampment site.

Police officials have said a preliminary investigation suggested the shooting resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the encampment. Investigators do not know if the men in the fight were associated with Occupy Oakland, but protesters said there was no connection between the shooting and the camp.

The shooting occurred the same day a 35-year-old military veteran apparently committed suicide in a tent at a Burlington, Vermont, Occupy encampment. Police said a preliminary investigation showed the veteran fatally shot himself in the head. They said the death raised questions about whether the protest would be allowed to continue.

In Salt Lake City, police arrested 19 people Saturday when protesters refused to leave a park a day after a man was found dead inside his tent at the encampment.

The arrests came after police moved into the park early in the evening where protesters had been ordered to leave by the end of the day. About 150 people had been living in the camp there for weeks.

Authorities in Denver forced protesters to leave a downtown encampment and arrested four people for interfering with officers who removed illegally pitched tents, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.

Jackson said police had advised protesters since Wednesday that their tents in Civic Center Park and on a nearby sidewalk were illegal.

San Francisco officers attacked
A clash with Occupy San Francisco protesters left one police officer slashed and a second with a torn uniform Saturday afternoon, the Contra Costa Times reported.

A woman wielding an "exacto razor blade attached to a pen or pencil-like object" slashed one officer as police tried to keep marchers at the Embarcadero near Broadway from blocking the intersection where light rail tracks are located, the Times said, citing police reports.

Also, one protester grabbed an officer's radio and a second protester blocked the officer's attempt to retrieve it, tearing his uniform and cutting his cheek in the process, the Times said.

In St. Louis, police arrested 27 demonstrators protesting economic issues at a downtown plaza early Saturday for curfew violations, authorities said.

The anti-Wall Street protesters offered no resistance as officers slipped on plastic handcuffs and walked them into police vans amid chants of "Our passion for freedom is stronger than your prison," and "Serve the people, not the state."

About 400 people had gathered at the plaza near the Gateway Arch on Friday night despite a warning from St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay that they would have to leave the park.

Slay has offered to continue talks to find a permanent place for the protest.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45271511/ns/us_news-life/

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