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Riot police have stormed the Occupy Melbourne camp, arresting protesters at City Square as chaos spills out across Swanston Street.
Angry scuffles have broken out in the middle of the CBD thoroughfare, blocking trams and drawing hundreds of protesters and spectators swarming onto the road. Police on horseback were being used to try to disperse the crowd.
Officers have been dragging people along the ground and carrying others by their arms and legs and loading them into the back of police vans en masse while threats of arrest were met with chants of "we can't hear you!".
While they were being cheered on by the crowd, protesters - still linking arms - have retreated, with some crying and others clearly terrified.
One woman forced from the protest was being treated by first aid officers. It was unclear what her injuries were.
City Square has now been cleared of protesters, however hundreds of people remain in the surrounding streets and tram services are blocked in several parts of the CBD.Police detain a man in City Square as other officers hold the crowd back. Officers in riot gear stormed the makeshift tent city at the corner of Swanston and Collins streets at 11.30am, forcibly removing protesters from the square after about 100 defied a 9am eviction order from Melbourne City Council. Within minutes, police and contractors had torn down tents and moved items from the camp to the end of the compound."They don't have a court room big enough," the protesters shouted at the first arrests were made.
Two others were also removed in the chaos, with police horses moving to the entrance of the camp.
One man was grabbed by police and dragged by his arms and legs outside the barrier. About five men and women who refused to budge were also carried, kicking and yelling, from the scene. Hundreds of people, including school children, are now lining Swanston and Collins streets watching the drama, with some chanting "the whole world is watching".
Police wearing helmets and carrying riot shields first moved into the square about 9.40am when the protesters, who are part of a global anti-greed movement spurred by the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York, tried to barricade themselves inside the camp, where they have spent the past six days. They also built a wall using upturned chairs, shelves and tables salvaged from the camp. Some tents were dismantled, which organisers said would be erected at a new location soon
Melbourne City Council officers arrived at the square at 7am to tell the group they had two hours to pack up and leave. Pamphlets were also handed out. The council says the protest and occupation fails to comply with the council's Activities Local Law 2009, by camping in the square and hanging or placing objects over it. Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said traders were suffering and events planned for the square had been disrupted by the week-long demonstration. But Nick Carson, a spokesman for Occupy Melbourne, vowed that "people will stay".
"People will be arrested," he said, as protesters around him chanted "We are the 99 per cent".
Earlier, organisers used loudspeakers to urge the protesters to call everyone they knew to join the protest before the 9am deadline and passed around marker pens to write the mobile phone number of a legal service on their arms in preparation for arrest.
Mr Doyle this morning said authorities were ready if the situation got "ugly". An officer confronts protesters in City Square. Photo: Jason South
"I suppose the crunch comes at 9 o'clock. We're prepared," Mr Doyle told 3AW.
"[The protesters] have been saying all throughout the week... that when lawfully asked to move, they would vacate the square. Well, we've given them a fair go. We've allowed them to make their point."
"The time has come for us to return City Square to the people of Melbourne."
An Occupier holds up a sign. Protesters have called for people to join them at 9am. Photo: Megan Levy
Mr Doyle said a fence would be used to try to keep others from joining the protest at the makshift camp, which he said had been taken over by "professional protesters" in recent days.
While some protesters packed up their tents in the rain and moved on, most remained steadfast.
Passers-by watched the unfolding drama from the neighbouring Starbucks coffee outlet, where they turned chairs outside the front of the store to face the action.
However at 8.30am, as yet more police moved in, Starbucks staff began packing up and said the store was closing.
A woman who demanded to be allowed entry to the protest was blocked by police.
Angry protesters began shouting and shaking fences as she was taken away by police.
Lachlan Gifford, an Occupy Melbourne spokesman, said the protest would spring up in other public places in Melbourne if they were forcibly removed.
"What Robert Doyle hasn't figured out yet is that, regardless of what happens here today, and even if the police and Robert Doyle are successful (in removing them), this won't be the end of it," he said.
"Eviction is a very short term thing.
"We will move next door to the church. This is going to get bigger in one way or another.
"There's this underlying dissatisfaction. People are not happy about the gap between haves and the have nots."
Read more:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/police-surround-city-square-as-protesters-defy-eviction-order-20111021-1mb07.html#ixzz1bNogAP7b
