NEW YORK CITY — After camping out in Manhattan's City Hall Park for weeks, remaining Occupy City Hall protesters were cleared out by police early Wednesday, the NYPD said.
Officers in riot gear arrived on the scene around 3:40 a.m. local time to remove "illegal occupiers" of City Hall Park, police said.
Police gave a verbal warning for protesters to disperse at least ten minutes before moving in to clear the park, according to the NYPD.
The NYPD said seven people were arrested. However, no charges have been filed as of yet.
#BREAKING: Police clear out #OccupyCityHall encampment from City Hall Park; NYPD confirms planned overnight operation
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— PIX11 News (@PIX11News) July 22, 2020
One brick was allegedly thrown at an officer, but the officer was not injured, police said. Otherwise, the NYPD said things remained mostly peaceful and that many of the protesters left the area voluntarily.
Protesters, along with some homeless people, have been camped out in the park by City Hall for weeks, calling for the city to defund the police.
Some protesters stayed even after the passing of the city's new budget, which Mayor Bill de Blasio said decreased the NYPD's 2021 budget from about $6 billion to about $5 billion. Many activists said the budget changes were nothing but "smoke and mirrors."
Police said the cleanup of litter and graffiti in the area could take several weeks and that the area will be on "complete lockdown" while city officials clean the area.
This story was originally published by Mark Sundstrom and John Muller on WPIX in New York.
