NYPD begins clearing out Zuccotti Park

Dozens of NYPD officers in riot gear entered Zuccotti Park early Tuesday morning and began cleaning out the Occupy Wall Street headquarters, removing tents and personal belongings as demonstrators shouted their disapproval.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office released a tweet about 1:34 a.m. ordering demonstrators to "temporarily leave and remove tents and tarps. Protesters can return after the park is cleared."

Officers checked for occupants before dragging empty tents out of the east side of the park. Dozens of sanitation workers began tossing belongings left behind by campers onto the sidewalk. A large sanitation container was placed on Cedar Street on the south side of the park and workers quickly filled it.

"It was overkill to the max," said Kathie Banks, 57, a protestor from Battery Park City.

By about 2 a.m., a little more than an hour after officers surrounded the lower Manhattan encampment, the park, which had been filled to capacity with hundreds of demonstrators and their tents, was about half empty.

Sanitation workers also began dismantling the makeshift park library and the press area.

While the workers continued their cleanup effort, some demonstrators sat down and refused to leave the park. Police took some protesters into custody.

The eviction began shortly before 1 a.m., when officers arrived and handed out fliers to protesters, ordering them to remove their property from the park.

A wall of officers in riot gear lined up on the east side of the park. Large flood lights lit up the encampment and sleeping protesters emerged from tents to hear police ordering them to leave immediately.

Overhead, a helicopter shined a bright spotlight back and forth across the park.

Medic Angelique Richards, 18, of Queens, was asleep in her tent when police arrived. She said she chose to leave rather than risk arrest.

"Getting arrested is not going to do anyone any good," she said.

A helmeted officer read the contents of the flier aloud to demonstrators.

According to the flier, demonstrators would be allowed to return to the park after their property had been removed, the park had been inspected, and officials deemed it safe and clean.

"Zuccotti Park poses an increasing health and fire safety hazard," the flier stated, "to those camped in the park, the city's first responders and to the surrounding community."

Some demonstrators crowded around the officer so they could better hear him read the statement, while others gathered their personal items. One man ran through the park yelling, "I'm staying to defend this park!"

Other protesters yelled profanities at officers, while several demonstrators chanted "Whose park? Our park," in a call and response.

Loudspeakers mounted on top of an NYPD van played the loop of a police officer warning to leave or face arrest.An NYPD spokesman said he was awaiting details from Zuccotti Park and would be putting out a statement later Tuesday morning.

Several dozen officers lined Broadway north from the park and traffic was being redirected.

Occupy Wall Street medic Luc Baillargeon, 29, of Rhode Island, described the police action as a "slow push."

"I knew something was wrong when I saw what looked like every, single possible police officer in the city coming toward us."

To mark the two-month anniversary of the protest, demonstrators Monday had said they hoped to shut down Wall Street Thursday by holding a "day of action" that could be the group's most provocative yet, Reuters reported. The protesters planned to march to Wall Street and then spread out across the city's subway system. They said they would reconvene later Thursday for a march across the Brooklyn Bridge.

In recent days, businesses and residents in the area pressured city officials to take action against the protesters. Concerns have also been raised about female protesters' safety after a kitchen worker at Zuccotti Park was charged with sexual assault.

With Matthew Chayes