A little over a year after the dawning of the Occupy movement, police officers in San Francisco have again raided the on-and-off-again encampment that's made its home on the Market Street sidewalk of in front of the city's branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a little before midnight on Wednesday evening, about 70 San Francisco Police Department officers cleared out the camp. A handful of protestors immediately dispersed; however, the rest refused to comply and were taking into police custody.
About 20 people were arrested, their possessions loaded into police vans, and the sidewalk was hosed down. The camp was entirely cleared out by 2:30 a.m.
"It went pretty smoothly," police spokesman Albie Esparza told the Chronicle. "From what I understand, what is mostly here is homeless people, and we just need the sidewalk to be clear again."
Occupy-affiliated protestors have been stationed in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco protesting the bank bailouts and the much vilified one-percent.
This week's raid wasn't the first time the encampment was cleared out. Similar actions have happened multiple times over the previous year. Camping on a city sidewalk is against state law and San Francisco's controversial sit-lie ordinance prohibits sitting or lying down during daylight hours.
Bay City News notes that police had been handing out leaflets to the campers in recent weeks warning that their presence was against the law and would soon be cleared out.
In this case, as in others, the violators were cited and then released.
While this site has seen a consistent Occupy presence since the movement's beginnings, another Occupy encampment in Justin Herman Plaza swelled to hundreds of campers before it was raided by police late last year.
Earlier this month, hundreds of Occupy protestors snarled traffic in downtown San Francisco for a march commemorating the one-year anniversary of the movement's birth.
Over in Oakland, where the Occupy protests took a decidedly more violent and anarchic tone, organizers have vowed to retake Frank Ogawa Plaza in commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the eviction of the Occupy encampment in front of Oakland's city hall.
"Let's show these pigs we will never back down in the face of violent oppression," a group spokesman announcing Occupy Oakland's plans said in a statement to the Oakland Tribune.