Police do sweep of Occupy camp at Freedom Plaza

(WTOP/Thomas Warren)
U.S. Park Police setting up barriers in Freedom Plaza. (WTOP/J. Hoeflinger)
A police officer inspects a tent at Freedom Plaza. (WTOP/Thomas Warren)
(WTOP/J. Hoeflinger)
(WTOP/J. Hoeflinger)
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WASHINGTON – U.S. Park Police are doing a compliance, health and safety check on the Occupy D.C. camp at Freedom Plaza. This comes a day after a similar enforcement at the McPherson Square camp.

Police told the protesters that they would first do an informal walk-through of the camp site, looking for any violations.

The sweep has been mostly calm and peaceful, but a man was arrested for threatening a police officer.

Police say they are looking for bedding, clothing and cooking items. They will also be looking for any biohazard issues, which includes human waste and rat infestation.

U.S. Park Police spokesman David Schlosser tells WTOP that they believe most of the tents are in compliance.

Any tent found to not be in compliance will have an orange tag placed on it during the walk-through. Protesters will then be allowed time to get the tent into compliance.

Police initially said that tents found to be in violation would not be removed, but teams wearing biohazard suits have removed some. They are also tossing out wooden pallets that some of the protesters have put under their tents.

Regulations allow protesters to remain on-site at all hours with tents, but they are not allowed to camp out or lay down on things like blankets.

The park service had said it would start enforcing the ban last Monday.

A flier handed out to the protesters Sunday says portion of the park will be closed while the enforcement is taking place. Some portions will remain open.

The flier says any temporary structure used for camping is subject to seizure, and anybody not in compliance will be subject to arrest.

The enforcement on Saturday was generally peaceful, but took violent turn towards the end of the day when a police officer was struck in the head with a brick.

Police removed several tents from McPherson that they said did not comply with regulations. Several tents still remain, but the park was closed. While police insist that the action was not an eviction, several protesters say it was a step towards kicking them out.

The Freedom Plaza occupiers is described as a group of generally older, longtime protesters. They have been at Freedom Plaza since early October. The group started out as an anti-war rally, then turned the camp into a second Occupy location.

Police say anything collected that hasn’t been deemed a biohazard can be picked up the Park Police District 1 station at 960 Ohio Drive, S.W. within 60 days.

WTOP’s Thomas Warren is down at Freedom Plaza. Follow his tweets for the latest:

WTOP’s Thomas Warren contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.

(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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