Police held back on clearing out anti-Wall Street protesters in Los Angeles who defied a deadline to abandon their eight-week-old encampment outside City Hall today.
About 2,000 demonstrators remained at the Los Angeles site after a tense morning face-off with police, who opened streets for morning commuters before pulling back.
Four demonstrators were arrested on suspicion of being present at an unlawful assembly during the brief confrontation. Police cleared the intersection where protesters had gathered to accommodate morning traffic and then withdrew from the immediate vicinity of the City Hall park.
Across the country, a deadline set yesterday by Philadelphia officials for Occupy protesters there to move out of a municipal plaza to came and went without incident.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had given protesters until 12:01am local time today to dismantle their tents and clear out of the park or face a forcible removal.
But about two hours after the eviction deadline, police commanders said they would permit the Occupy LA encampment to stay until at least daybreak.
Police Commander Andrew Smith later said he thought it "highly unlikely" that the camp would be forced to shut down today.
The Los Angeles encampment is among the oldest and largest on the US West Coast aligned with a national Occupy Wall Street movement protesting economic inequality, high unemployment and the excesses of the US financial system.
Staking its place since October 1st on the grounds surrounding City Hall, the compound had grown to roughly 400 tents and 700 to 800 people, organisers and municipal officials said. At least a third are believed to be homeless people.
By last night, the size of the crowd outside City Hall had swelled further as supporters from organised labour, clergy, civil rights and other groups streamed into the area, answering a call for an 11th-hour show of support with the campers.
Organisers said they had also been on the phone to various community groups seeking alternate sites where protesters could relocate, at least temporarily.
Los Angeles has been relatively accommodating to its Occupy group compared to other major cities, with Mr Villaraigosa at one point providing rain ponchos to campers. But after the collapse of negotiations aimed a voluntary relocation, the mayor said last week the encampment would have to go.
"It is time for Occupy LA to move from focusing their efforts to hold a particular patch of parkland to spreading the message of economic justice and restoration of balance to American society," the mayor said yesterday.
Mr Villaraigosa has ordered police to enforce an eviction if necessary but said he hoped to avoid violence that has broken out in other cities when officers used night sticks and tear gas to drive protesters from camps or keep them from returning.
Reuters