Occupy Camps In LA Cleared Out By Police

Los Angeles protesters were forced to abandon their two-month old camps this week after unsuccessful attempts to get court injunctions allowing them to stay.

Hundreds of police raided the Los Angeles camp shortly after midnight on Wednesday declaring it to be an “unlawful assembly”, furthering that occupiers had 10 minutes to clear out or be subject to arrest. Close to 300 were arrested and approximately 100 were taken to the Van Nuys Jail and the rest were taken to the LAPD Metro Central Jail.  Bail for each of the defendants was set at $5,000.

According to a report by MSNBC approximately 25 tons of debris was hauled away from lawns surrounding City Hall.

Family members moved quickly in an attempt to bail out loved ones but due to the mass influx of arrestees, booking and processing times were delayed.  Los Angeles Police Department Public Information Officer Andrew Smith said that the arrests were “largely peaceful” in nature.  Chief Charlie Beck has been quoted as saying the raid went “as well as could be expected.”

Law enforcement officials are hopeful that positive reports as to how the mission was handled will help undo damage done by recent reports of inmate abuse at county jails. Not a single complaint has been filed to date regarding mistreatment by police during the arrests, they said.

Several members of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), however, are chastising the LAPD for holding the defendants on bail.  “Cite outs”,  tickets which require defendants to appear in court at a later date, were not being given.  NLG members said this could be seen as a violation of the right to exercise free speech.

Now that Occupy camps throughout the country have been broken up many who support the movement are questioning their next steps.  Camps in Seattle, Washington and Boston, Massachusetts are among the last remaining occupations.  Some believe that already-broken-up camps will reappear come spring.

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