Deadline nears for 'Occupy' camps near White House

Anti-Wall Street protesters in the nation's capital face their first challenge from police on Monday as authorities seek to end overnight camping at two parks within sight of the White House.

The US National Park Service said last week it would enforce a ban at noon against sleeping in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, where "Occupy" protesters have been staked out since October.

It ordered sleeping bags, pillows and other gear removed but said tents may remain as a protest symbol if flaps stayed open. Fears of clashes mounted after police used a stun gun Sunday on one protester, who was later arrested. The deadline in Washington follows a new burst of unrest at "Occupy" protests in Oakland, California, over the weekend. On Monday, about 10 police officers did a walk-through in both parks before the deadline. Some protesters had already complied with the order to move their sleeping gear, but it remained unclear whether all would do so by the noon deadline.

"Some said they would resist. Some said they won't take their stuff out of the tents, and some will," protester Feriha Kaya, 23, said in Freedom Plaza.

"It will not stop anything." At McPherson Square, participants were turning their tents and sleeping bags into symbols of protest using donated art supplies.

One tent read, "We're still here." A sign on a bench read "Eviction?? Bring it!!" In "Occupy" demonstrations that began in New York City in September and spread across the United States, protesters have targeted the growing income gap, corporate greed and what they see as unfair tax structure favoring the richest 1% of Americans. Protesters in Washington also cite the city's thousands of homeless people, some of whom sleep in the park.

The US capital, site of historic demonstrations over the decades, had so far done little to deter the protesters, drawing a rebuke from congressional Republicans who accuse the Obama administration of sympathysing with the groups and refusing to enforce park rules - a charge denied by park officials.

The National Park Service regulates both parks and forbids camping on federal land not designated as a campground. The protests have also has irked some city officials who are concerned about rats, trash and health issues. Fitzgerald Scott, 40, who was putting up a tent in Freedom Plaza despite the order, said Friday's order came as a shock.

"It flustered people, it got them scared," he said.

Calls for reinforcements
Protesters in McPherson  quare said they were expecting reinforcements from New York, Boston, Philadelphia and other cities to show solidarity. The number of protesters in the Occupy DC camps fluctuate, but city officials estimate there are less than 100 in total.

Obama has seized on the debate to call for higher taxes on the richest Americans and has made economic inequality a central theme of his administration and bid for re-election.

The Occupy protests had faded over the last few weeks but flared anew on Saturday when violence broke out in Oakland, California and 400 demonstrators were arrested during a night of skirmishes with police.

Oakland has become a flashpoint of the protests and the arrests there were one of the largest mass detentions since the movement began. "It's injected solidarity and new energy. It's also injected a little bit of unease because we're not sure what the Park Police are going to do and I don't know if they're sure of what we're going to do," said protester Rusty Shackleford, 25.

"Nobody knows who's going to make the first move."