Riot police clear Oakland of Occupy Wall Street protestors

Early Tuesday morning, police officers clad in riot-gear arrestedseventy-five people in Oakland, California as they cleared city hall of Occupy Wall Street protestors.

The protestors had been camped out in front of Oakland’s city hall for about two weeks, before hundreds of police officers and sheriff’s deputies from more than a dozen local law enforcement agencies descended upon them firing tear gas and beanbag launchers.

According to the authorities none of the roughly 170 protestors were injured, although some complained of rough handling by police.

“It was definitely chaos. People didn’t want to get gassed,” said Anthony Owens, a forty-year old computer programmer from Oakland who was there protesting when police arrived.

When word arrived that the police would be clearing the site, some protestors left while the remaining ones locked arms in defiance of the officers that had surrounded the plaza, said Owens.

Authorities said the plaza had been “contained” within half an hour, and a smaller encampment of protestors nearby had also been cleared.

Throughout Tuesday morning, police continued to maintain a heavy presence around downtown Oakland closing off streets with barricades and at least two helicopters hovering above. Protestors briefly blocked traffic on a busy thoroughfare and riot-police were seen squaring off with the group.

The protest comes as part of a growing movement sparked by anti-Wall Street activists who have been camped out in Lower Manhattan for more than a month. Protestors are troubled with the current state of the economy, the growing income disparity, and the state of the financial services industry.  The movement has attracted college students, recent graduates, and unemployed people from across the country.