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 camped there since Oct. 17 and charging nine with trespassing or obstructing justice.
Meanwhile in London, the dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral on Monday became the second high-profile clergy member to step down over anti-capitalist protests that have spilled across the historic church’s grounds.
Officers began clearing the Richmond park around 1 a.m. and most of the protesters left peacefully, police spokesman Gene Lepley said. 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.
One of the protesters, Ira Birch, said the park was surrounded by a “huge line of cops” and police cruisers with their blue lights flashing. An officer read ordinances that the protesters were violating and told people to gather their possessions and leave. She described the scene as “pretty peaceful.”
A bulldozer was called in to clear the plaza of trash, furniture and other items that piled up over two weeks.
Mayor Dwight 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 to move in two weeks after the occupation began, calling it a “tactical issue.” State police also provided support.
A spokesman for the mayor did not return a message seeking comment.
The mayor also has angered Tea Party members, who said the city had issued a list of demands and fees when they held rallies on the plaza. They submitted a bill for $8,500 to City Hall on Friday.
About 30 protesters returned to the sidewalk at the edge of the plaza before noon. They planned to rally at the Virginia Commonwealth University campus about one mile away and return to the plaza, they said.
Elsewhere, Tennessee agreed Monday to stop enforcing a curfew used to dislodge Occupy Nashville protesters from the grounds around the state Capitol.
The protesters went to federal court seeking a temporary restraining order against Gov. Bill Haslam, saying the curfew and arrests of dozens of supporters on Legislative Plaza 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.
State troopers had used the curfew put into place Thursday to arrest 29 protesters early Friday and 26 people early Saturday.
In London, the resignation Monday of Graeme Knowles left St. Paul’s Cathedral without a leader and was expected to delay a planned legal action to evict protesters camped there.
Officials shut the church to the public Oct. 21, saying demonstrators’ tents were a health and safety hazard. It was the first time the 300-year-old London church had closed since German planes bombed the city during World War II. It reopened Friday.
Knowles had urged protesters to leave the cathedral area to allow it to reopen its doors. He said Monday that his position had become “untenable” as criticism of the cathedral mounted in the press and in public opinion.
Knowles’ resignation followed that last week of Giles Fraser, a senior St. Paul’s Cathedral priest who had welcomed the anti-capitalist demonstrators to set up camp outside the landmark, inspired by New York’s Occupy Wall Street movement. He said he resigned because he feared moves to evict the protesters could end in violence.
A part-time chaplain, Fraser Dyer, also resigned last week, saying he was “embarrassed” by the decision to take legal action to try to evict the protesters.
Information for this article was contributed by Cassandra Vinograd, Travis Loller, Robert Barr and Jill Lawless of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 11/01/2011