Occupy protestors cleared from UK's Parliament Square
Protestors complain about heavy-handed police tactics as they are removed on fifth day of pro-democracy demonstration
LONDON
Fifteen people have been arrested as police cleared Occupy London protestors from Parliament Square outside Britain's Houses of Parliament on the fifth day of the demonstration.
Live video from the scene on Tuesday showed police carrying off protestors - who had been calling for greater democracy in the UK and halts to privatization program -, searching them and then putting them into police vans.
In video footage posted online, some officers could be seen twisting protestors arms and placing handcuffs on their wrists.
One protestor can be heard saying, "You’re hurting me" to police as she was arrested.
The London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement: "Our role is to facilitate peaceful protest whilst balancing the needs of London communities and minimizing any disruption."
"We will not take sides, but we seek to apply the law fairly and proportionately," the statement also said.
Police have maintained a high presence at Occupy London's protest site on the square and demonstrators have used their twitter account to call on supporters to try and converge on the area again.
MEP detained
Jenny Jones, a 64-year-old Green party Member of the European Parliament, was arrested in Parliament Square earlier in the day on grounds of obstructing police and later released after giving her details for a court summons, police said.
Jones, the chairwoman of the London Assembly’s Economy Committee and Deputy Chair of its Police and Crime Committee, had gone to the protest on Tuesday morning after protesters complained about police tactics.
Occupy London, which has been calling for a different form of democracy, has also expressed solidarity with Occupy demonstrators protesting in Hong Kong.
The group also objects to cuts in public spending, the privatization of the National Health Service, or NHS, and the U.K.'s "bedroom tax" - a cut in government benefits for those in social housing if they have spare rooms.
Police said the Occupy London protestors had been in violation of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act of 2011 as they had tarpaulin sheets which allowed them to sleep in the square.
“We informed them of the breach of legislation and asked them to leave, this was done on a one-to-one basis,” police officials said.
Police also said 15 people were arrested for “failing to provide details suitable for a summons,” after the tarpaulin was removed.
