الرئيسية
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Police removed protesters as they confiscated bedding and most tents on Saturday from an "Occupy" protest site just blocks from the White House, enforcing a no-camping rule for the public McPherson Square they had ignored for months.
Dozens of mounted police and police on foot in riot gear earlier sealed off the square, which is administered by the National Park Service, and moved in before dawn to enforce the no-camping regulation.
Demonstrators have been in the square since early October to target
the growing income gap, corporate greed and what they see as an unfair
tax structure favoring the richest Americans.
By early evening, police had scuffled with protesters
and moved all but one out of the park as they cleared most of the
encampment. Police said the move was only an enforcement of park rules
but Occupy demonstrators called the action a "full force eviction" and
said the police had beaten them with batons and pushed them out so
violently that several people were trampled.
Dozens of mounted police and police on foot in riot gear earlier sealed off the square, which is administered by the National Park Service, and moved in before dawn to enforce the no-camping regulation.
Demonstrators have been in the square since early October to target
the growing income gap, corporate greed and what they see as an unfair
tax structure favoring the richest Americans.
By early evening, police had scuffled with protesters
and moved all but one out of the park as they cleared most of the
encampment. Police said the move was only an enforcement of park rules
but Occupy demonstrators called the action a "full force eviction" and
said the police had beaten them with batons and pushed them out so
violently that several people were trampled.