NEW YORK — The New York Police Department has begun the process of clearing out remaining protesters from an encampment in downtown Manhattan’s City Hall Park, where the group has been camping out in tents for the past several weeks, according to police and social media.
The NYPD moved in shortly before 4 a.m. in the area of Centre and Chambers streets, and began the process of pushing protesters out, police said. The group has camped out in City Hall Park since at least the middle of June, demanding police defunding following weeks of protests, FOX News reported.
Organizers called it “Occupy City Hall” — a reference to the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement a few blocks away in Zuccotti Park.
WABC-TV estimated there were 70 people, both protesters and homeless individuals, in the encampment at the time of Wednesday morning’s police action.
As of 7 a.m., seven people were taken into custody, police said, adding that the number was subject to change. Charges against them were pending.
