Police clear Occupy protests in Los Angeles, Philadelphia

Riot police evicted a two-month-old anti-Wall Street protest camp in Los Angeles early Wednesday. Dozens of officers sealed off an area around the City Hall park camp, while other police arrested a number of protesters.

Reuters//Lucy Nicholson

Police announced over loudspeakers that they were declaring an unlawful assembly shortly after midnight local time, calling on people to leave the area "immediately" or face arrest and possible other action.

Hundreds of protesters turned out in solidarity when the police action began.

At the same time as the action in LA, live TV footage showed riot police converging on Occupy Wall Street protesters in downtown Philadelphia, an eastern US city where authorities had also issued an eviction deadline.