Dear Commons Community,

Early this morning, New York City police officers began clearing Zuccotti Park of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, telling the people there that the nearly two-month-old camp would be “cleared and restored” before the morning and that any demonstrator who did not leave would be arrested.

At the time of this posting, most Occupy Wall Street protesters had left the park but others had chained themselves to lamp-posts or locked arms.  The police pulled them out one protester at a time and handcuffed them. Most were walked out without incident. The officers had gathered between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges earlier and rode in vans to the one-square-block park. They entered shortly about 1 a.m.

As they did, dozens of protesters  shouted “No retreat, no surrender,” “This is our home” and “Barricade!”

The mayor’s office sent out a message on Twitter at 1:19 a.m. saying: “Occupants of Zuccotti should temporarily leave and remove tents and tarps. Protesters can return after the park is cleared.”

We hope this does not end it any violence.

Here are links to two articles on the police action:  NY Times article —- Huffington Post article.

Tony