Another U.S. city has lost its Occupy Wall Street camp.
Before dawn on Tuesday, scores of police officers marched into an encampment of protesters and homeless people across from City Hall in New Orleans, forcing the dozens of occupants out and removing tents in a peaceful eviction.
The police action drew loud, sometimes raucous, complaints but did not result in violence.
“You people are treasonous!” one protester shouted as more than 100 uniformed officers moved through the makeshift camp grounds at Duncan Plaza, a city block of green space that has been home to the loosely knit Occupy New Orleans movement since October 6, 2011.
City officials had accommodated the protesters for weeks, allowing the tents some nothing more than tarps or sheets of plastic thrown over ropes strung between trees to stand unmolested and even providing portable toilets.
But New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu had warned on Friday that it was time for the around-the-clock encampment to end. Police had been distributing flyers warning that the park could no longer be used as a camp ground.
The eviction by police came ahead of a hearing later Tuesday during which a federal judge was to consider a request by protesters to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the city from evicting them and an injunction that would allow them to continue their around-the-clock occupation.
Police could be seen escorting some of the protesters out of the camp.
One protester was arrested for failure to leave and constructing on a public space, police chief Ronal Serpas said. The man told police he wanted to be arrested, Mr. Serpas said. Another man was taken to the hospital complaining of chest pains.
There were no signs of the violence that has accompanied other, larger evictions in other cities where the offshoots of the Occupy Wall Street movement have taken hold.
Mr. Serpas said police have identified 35 homeless people at the camp that they are trying to provide assistance for.
The New Orleans camp as well as those that had sprung up in a number of other cities were a spin-off of New York’s Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.
The camp in New York also was shut down, although daytime activities are allowed.
