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Since the Occupy Los Angeles encampment began on October 1st it has grown into, arguably, the biggest in the nation with nearly 500 tents occupying the space in front of City Hall. However, more than a week after a majority of tent cities around the country were evicted – many of them violently – the LAPD gave local activists a deadline of one minute past midnight last night to remove their tents. The city distributed flyers in Spanish and English to inform activists of the deadline, and offered 50 shelter beds for homeless people among the campers. The uniquely cordial relationship between police and protesters in LA seems to be coming to an end. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck told the press, “I have no illusions that everybody is going to leave. We anticipate that we will have to make arrests… [but my officers would] “not be the first ones to apply force.” Citing issues of public health and safety LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged campers to move on, saying “[i]t is time for Occupy LA to move from holding a particular patch of park land to spreading the message of economic justice and signing more people up for the push to restore the balance to American society.” More than a thousand people gathered last night before the deadline but it wasn’t until early this morning that a tense stand-off between protesters and police armed with batons and non-lethal weapons resulted in the arrest of 4 people. Police opened the streets of downtown to commuters at around 6 am this morning and as of now, there are very few officers left at the scene.

In the lead-up to the deadline, Occupy LA activists were rumored to have been offered the use of a 10,000 square foot space, a small amount of land to farm, and 100 beds for homeless activists, in exchange for ending the City Hall encampment. However, the offer could not be confirmed and was apparently rescinded. Occupy LA’s General Assembly passed a resolution on November 23rd, declaring “We will continue to occupy this space, in solidarity with our global movement, until the forces of the few are forced to capitulate to the power of the people.” They renamed City Hall Park, Solidarity Park and articulated a list of demands which include a moratorium on foreclosures, rehabilitation and housing for LA’s homeless, a revival of the South Central Farm, and a declaration for Los Angeles to be a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants.

GUEST: Clark Davis, Occupy LA’s media coordinator

Read Occupy LA’s response to the Mayor’s office and the LAPD: http://occupylosangeles.org/?q=nov2011response