Peaceful Arrests Made as Police Clear Occupy Boston Camp

Police made dozens of arrests early Saturday as they cleared away the remaining Occupy Boston encampment in the city's financial district in a mostly peaceful action.

Authorities, including more than 100 police officers, swept into the area before sunrise, when many of the campers were asleep, and sealed off the streets. Some 32 men and 14 women were arrested, mostly for trespassing.

For the most part it went well. They had mutual respect for the police officers and we for them, police representative Eddy Chrispin told Reuters.

Much of the tightly packed Occupy tent city had been dismantled before a Thursday night deadline set by city Mayor Thomas Menino. The mayor had ordered the protesters to clear the camp after a judge ruled they did not have the right to occupy Dewey Square.

The end to the encampment, which sat in a small grassy area across from the Boston Federal Reserve Bank and the city's main train station, came without the violence seen in some cities during the three-month protest movement, which began with Occupy Wall Street in New York.

Boston police did not wear helmets or riot gear, and they did not draw weapons on protesters, many of whom sat arm-in-arm. Other campers fled the scene during the raid.

As dawn broke in Boston, tents, furniture and other debris were being dismantled and thrown into garbage trucks. Crews were raking, clearing debris from flower beds, and power-washing graffiti from sidewalks and an adjacent building.

(Reporting by Lauren Keiper and Ros Krasny; Editing by Greg McCune)