Police Descend on Occupy D.C. Site

Park Police officers clad in riot gear raided one of the nation’s last remaining Occupy sites in Washington, D.C.’s McPherson Square before dawn on Saturday. Six people were arrested as police began cleaning the area and throwing away tents.

The National Park Service had issued warning that it would start enforcing a ban on camping in the square on Monday, so the raid wasn’t a surprise. “Despite the show of force, relations between authorities and protesters remained largely peaceful,” writes the Washington Post.

Police insisted they weren’t evicting the protesters, noting that it would leave tents that conformed to regulations, calling the action “nuisance abatement.” Regulations allow protesters to have tents, but they are not allowed to sleep in them or “lay down on things like blankets,” explains the Associated Press. Cleanup crews apparently found lots of dead rats and mice in the area. Last month, the Washington Post cited the director of the city’s Department of Health saying that the rat population around the Occupy D.C. camps had “exploded.”

Meanwhile, police in Austin began to clear out protesters Friday night who had been camping outside City Hall for four months. Around five people were arrested, reports the Austin American-Statesman.