In the second day of police raids across the West Coast, officers have cleared out demonstrators camped in Oakland.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said the early morning operations were prompted by a recent murder that happened adjacent to the camp in the San Francisco city area.
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"The encampment had become a place where we had repeated violence and this week a murder," Quan told reporters. "We had to bring the camp to an end before someone else got hurt."
Top legal advisor to Quan, civil rights attorney Dan Siegel, resigned in protest shortly before the pre-dawn raids.
"No longer Mayor Quan's legal advisor. Resigned at 2 am. Support Occupy Oakland, not the one per cent and its government facilitators," he tweeted. His resignation was later confirmed by Quan.
OCCUPY PHILLY MOVED ON
The Oakland operation came after police evicted dozens of anti-Wall Street protesters on Sunday from downtown Portland where 50 arrests were made.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter stated public safety concerns as the reason behind the operation.
"Occupy Philly has changed," Mayor Nutter told reporters on Sunday.
"We're seeing serious health and safety issues playing out on almost a daily basis," he said, adding on Saturday, a woman had reported an alleged sexual assault in one of the tents.
A string of deaths have also been reported over the last week. These include two from gunshot wounds and one related to drugs.
