Toronto Police dismantling Occupy tents

TORONTO, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The Occupy Toronto tent city in a downtown park was dismantled by police officers Wednesday morning, organizers said.

Three large buses and some 20 cruisers converged on St. James Park before sunrise and about 200 officers fanned out through the encampment, tagging and photographing tents, the Toronto Sun reported.

There were no confrontations, although at least two protesters told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. they had chained and locked themselves without a key in a large tent that has been used as a library since the camp was built Oct. 15.

A judge upheld the city's eviction notice Monday and the protesters were told to leave. From a peak of more than 200 occupiers last month, by Wednesday, only about 60 remained, the reports said.

The eviction order allows protesters to gather in the park between 5:30 a.m. and midnight, but erecting tents and camping is forbidden, the CBC said.

Also early Wednesday, police in Ottawa evicted 24 protesters from their camp and arrested eight for resisting, the report said.

Occupy Edmonton protesters in Alberta were refusing city orders to pack up and leave Tuesday and were under police observation Wednesday morning. In Vancouver, protesters followed orders to dismantle their tent camp by moving it to a park.

The protests were spawned by the Occupy Wall Street protest denouncing corporate malfeasance and income disparity between corporate figures and the "99 percent" of other citizens.