Extra

Police said they'd enforce no-camping restrictions in Civic Center Park, but they didn't say when. Now cops are on hold, as MLK Park occupiers skedaddle. 

By midnight Wednesday, only a stubborn minority from the massive encampment remained. 

Late Wednesday, Occupy Berkeley relocated its information table to Bank America Civic Center Plaza, where half a dozen tents, shifted two blocks from MLK Park to join them. 

But by 5a.m., according to reports from a camper at the scene, Berkeley Police, "snuck up on us, kicked us off the plaza, and took our gear." According to a source at the scene, a veteran camper lost his second tent, and "is pissed." 

Police also shooed-off close to a dozen occupiers, who posted protest signs at the front of Bank of America. According to one of the protesters the protest signs were confiscated. Now he too is "pissed," saying he plans to enlist District 7 councilman, Kris Worthington to help with a violation of constitutional rights complaint.  

A march around MLK Park's perimeter, which was called for 10 p.m. by the O.B. general assembly, was a no-show. It was not the first time a GA-backed initiative had died of inertia. 

Near midnight, the once fat city had turned lean, with only stragglers remaining. 

An OB veteran of nearly two months said, "We’ve been cut off at the waist, so that now we can grow from the head." Many veterans of Berkeley's Occupation movement say they are ready for a new phase. 

Protestors who spent Wednesday building up steam for a stand-off with police that never came, kept the faith near midnight, exhorting gawkers to either "go to your apartments, or camp with us." Few stayed. 

Boasts from Occupying Oaklanders that their ranks would swell with fresh blood turned out to be bravado, as a scene that might have spun out of control was reigned in, perhaps by a scare-squad of Berkeley police bearing shelter info leaflets that no one took. 

Alan Wang, Channel 7, one of a gang of major media covering yet another Occupy eviction, contacted Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates at home sometime after 10 p.m. 

Bates held a brief (exclusive) interview with Wang near City Hall on Center Street, according to Wang, in which the mayor disclosed that cops would not be moving in for the time being. 

Wang spent much of the evening justifying media to surly protesters. 

Kris Worthington and Jesse Arreguin, Berkeley city councilmen, both of whom visited the besieged camp, Wednesday, lamented being out-of the-loop in the decision by BPD and the city manager, Christine Daniel, that formed Wednesday night's strategy. 

Bo-Peter Laanen, a U.C. political science junior and early OB leader, said that the decision to take up residence in the park had been a mistake. 

In an interview earlier, Laanen said the troubled camp had exposed societal problems that the 99% needed to learn about."