Police clear out Occupy protesters

BUFFALO, N.Y., Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Police cleared Occupy protesters from a park in Buffalo, N.Y., while police in Berkeley, Calif., gave Occupy protesters final eviction notices, officials said.

The Buffalo News reported one person was arrested late Wednesday night as officers cleared protesters from Lafayette Square downtown

Police told a handful of protesters who had set up camp in the square to leave, Buffalo Police Department spokesman Michael DeGeorge said Thursday.

DeGeorge said two or three people left voluntarily but Christina Cooke, 26, resisted and was arrested and charged with violating a city ordinance forbidding people to be in a city park or on city land after 10 p.m. and obstruction of governmental administration.

The News said police removed tents and tarps from the square after downtown property owners, businesses and city officials complained.

In California, police in Berkeley warned Occupy protesters that as of 10 p.m. Wednesday, their campsite was illegal, KGO-TV, San Francisco, reported.

Some protesters heckled officers, but no one was arrested.

Since Oct. 23, police said, there had been 24 crimes at the encampment, including three assaults with deadly weapons and an attempted rape Tuesday night.

Referring to other Bay-area encampments that have been shut down, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said: "When Oakland closed, when San Francisco closed, they've come here. So we've had a different kind of person than in the past."