Va. police end encampment

Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va.

Police cleared out a downtown plaza early Monday that had been home to Occupy Wall Street protesters, ordering out dozens of people who had encamped there since Oct. 17 and charging nine with trespassing or obstructing justice.

Officers began clearing the park around 1 a.m., and most of the protesters left peacefully, said police spokesman Gene Lepley. He said the nine were either arrested or cited when they refused to move. The arrests followed other police crackdowns around the country in places including Oregon, California, Texas, Tennessee, Atlanta and Denver.

The occupation, inspired by the anti-Wall Street protests in lower Manhattan, had blossomed into a tent city, with dozens scattered around Kanawha Plaza in the city’s financial district. The site also included a library, a volleyball net and a large blue tarp strung up on three magnolia trees.

Mayor Dwight C. Jones visited the Occupy encampment last week and told the protesters he would have city officials meet with protest representatives to discuss the continued occupation of the grass-and-concrete park in front of the Federal Reserve Bank high-rise.

Lepley declined to say who ordered the police in two weeks after the occupation began, calling it a “tactical issue.” State police also provided support.

Meanwhile, Tennessee officials agreed Monday to stop enforcing a new curfew used to dislodge Occupy Nashville protesters from the grounds around the Capitol.

The protesters went to federal court seeking a temporary restraining order against Gov. Bill Haslam, arguing the curfew and arrests of dozens of supporters violated their rights to free speech and freedom of assembly.

State Attorney General’s Office Senior Counsel Bill Marett announced at the beginning of a hearing before Judge Aleta Trauger that the state would not fight efforts to halt the policy.

The judge said she already had decided to grant the restraining order because the curfew was a “clear prior restraint on free-speech rights.”

In New York City, demonstrators are trying to trademark the phrase “Occupy Wall Street.” Leaders of the protesters in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park filed an application Oct. 24 to trademark the name of their movement with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, one of their attorneys said Monday.

The filing was a defensive move to make sure other people not affiliated with Occupy Wall Street don’t try to use the name, he said.

An Arizona-based company and a couple from West Islip, N.Y., also have filed Occupy Wall Street trademark applications.

In California, the roommate of an Iraq War veteran seriously injured in a clash with police during an anti-Wall Street demonstration says Scott Olsen is doing well, and doctors say he’ll make a full recovery.