The Occupy protests are now nearly two months old, having begun in New York's financial district on Sept 17 as a demonstration against income inequality and corporate greed.
This weekend however officials across the country urged an end to gatherings and camps were cleared in Salt Lake City, Utah and Denver, Colorado.
In Portland, Oregon thousands of people gathered in two adjacent city parks in an overnight stand off with police. The city's mayor Sam Adams had ordered a camp there to be shut down by midnight Saturday, citing unhealthy conditions and the camp's attraction of drug users and thieves. There had been four non-fatal drug overdoses in recent weeks.
But early on Sunday 3,000 people converged on the area and protest organisers said that would make it difficult for police to carry out an eviction.
Occupy Portland spokesman Jordan LeDoux said: "We're going to sit-in and force them to arrest us." » | Nick Allen, Los Angeles | Sunday, November 13, 2011
