PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Police in Texas, Tennessee and Oregon reported the arrests of dozens of Occupy protesters early Sunday.
Officers rousted demonstrators in Austin, Texas, Nashville and Portland, Ore., after they refused to leave their respective encampments.
CNN said two dozen people were arrested at a Portland park and another 38 were hauled away from the city hall in the Texas capital.
The arrests followed similar actions in recent days at Occupy sites in Tampa, Fla., San Diego and Atlanta, and a clash between demonstrators and police armed with pepper spray in downtown Denver.
Mayor Sam Adams told KPTV-TV in Portland the protesters had been given plenty of opportunity to move along. "This tonight was, I think, an unnecessary confrontation that we worked really hard to minimize," he said.
Austin police moved in after protesters refused to remove a food table. Tables are not allowed between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. under rules enacted by the city last week.
"On a night where there are hundreds of drunks driving around town, they have all these resources here to take down three food tables," protester Dave Cortez told the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman. "It's just unnecessary. We are a peaceful body."
Nashville police said they cited 26 protesters for curfew violation and two more for public intoxication. The state American Civil Liberties Union said the newly imposed 10 p.m. curfew in Nashville violated protesters' First Amendment rights, The (Nashville) Tennessean reported.
