PHOTOS: Cops evict Occupy Wall St protestors in midnight raid

Police in New York City police descended on Zuccotti Park in the wee hours of Tuesday to forcibly remove Occupy Wall Street protestors who have been camping in Lower Manhattan since September 17.

The police began to remove the protestors just past midnight after the Occupy Wall Street organisers announced on their web site that they would 'shut down Wall Street' on Thursday -- the day on which the protest completes two months.

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Demonstrators were asked to leave or face arrest after the cops gave them notices from Brookfield Office Properties, Zuccotti Park's owner, and the New York City administration which said that the area needed to be cleared as 'it posed a fire safety hazard and was unsanitary', according to wire agencies.

Paul Browne, a police spokesman, said most people began leaving when they received the notices; one person was arrested for disorderly conduct.

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The New York Daily News reported the presence of hundreds of policemen at the site to evict the protestors. The cops, carrying shields and wearing helmets, removed tents and beddings, and dumped them by the wayside.

This led to an argument between the police and the demonstrators who where then told that they could come back to hold their protest but they could not bring any tents or sleeping bags, etc that would help them camp indefinitely at the protest site.

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The protesters' web site meanwhile streamed live video coverage of the police raid.

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On October 14, too, an effort had been made to remove the protestors by the park's owners, but that did not work.

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The Occupy Wall Street movement focuses on many issues, including the one per cent rich Americans holding more money than the rest of the 99 per cent, Wall Street's huge salaries and fancy financial practices that had taken the economy to the brink, student loan indebtedness, etc.

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The protests have spread to many cities across America and Europe where likeminded people have been demonstrating against the profligacy of a few for which the majority is paying a heavy price.

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Last fortnight the protests also reached Mumbai in the form of Occupy Dalal Street. However, it failed to generate the same response as the US protests have done.