Encampment

In the middle of Tuesday's Los Angeles City Council meeting, where the most scintillating item on the agenda was a proposal to increase ticket prices at the L.A. Zoo, a speaker stood up and told lawmakers they were ignoring an obvious fact: "You are surrounded by tents. " He was referring to the large group of protesters camped a few hundred feet away, on a lawn outside City Hall. The group, which calls itself Occupy LA, has been there since Saturday in a demonstration against economic policies that benefit corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

The City Hall park that was used - and some would say abused - byOccupy L.A.protesters last year reopened Thursday after a $1-million rehabilitation. With a smaller lawn and native succulents and salvias, the park will need one-third less water than it did before the demonstration, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said, making it a "symbol of sustainability. " The mayor marked the reopening with a ceremony on the south lawn. But not everyone was invited. PHOTOS: City Hall park reopens A dozen Occupy protesters, who had been barred from entering by police, stood unhappily on the other side of a concrete and chain-link fence.

A homeless encampment along the Los Angeles River near Imperial Highway was broken up Monday, forcing about 20 people to move from the area. Officials from South Gate and Lynwood, which share authority over the site with other public and private entities, said the camp had become a health and safety concern, with residents defecating in bushes and lighting fires to keep warm. "This is such an unsanitary situation," said David Torres, field operations manager for the South Gate Department of Public Works.

Los Angeles County's barren High Desert has long attracted those seeking seclusion in wide-open spaces, far beyond the reach of power lines, sewer pipes and pavement. For many of these self-described "desert rats," self-sufficiency is a matter of survival and pride: Solar panels and wind turbines provide power, enormous storage tanks provide water and a motley assortment of trailers, outbuildings and vehicles provides shelter from the withering sun. But this "live free" mind-set is coming under increasing attack as county investigators crack down on code violations and nuisance complaints in the far-flung north.

MOSCOW — Russian riot police cleared a Moscow park early Wednesday of a weeklong encampment considered a local version of the Occupy movement, and hours later clashed with antigovernment protesters outside a Stalinist skyscraper in a different part of downtown. The dispersal of several dozen protesters at the park encampment, called Occupy Abai, preceded a nighttime confrontation at Kudrinskaya Square, where several hundred protesters had gathered to oppose President Vladimir Putin.

Occupy L.A. has occupied the grounds outside City Hall for nearly two months. City leaders, to their credit, did not pick a fight but welcomed the protesters and allowed them to camp out. But it's crunch time now. New York has dispersed its Occupy demonstrators, Oakland has battled with its activists, and it is becoming clear that Los Angeles is disinclined to allow its protesters to stay too much longer. PHOTOS: Day of protest There have been a lot of smart reasons for the city and the Police Department to sanction the weeks of illegal camping overnight in a public park — "a very minor infraction," LAPD Cmdr.

Police were called to two violent incidents at Occupy Los Angeles on Friday, adding to questions about the protest and its future. In the morning, a woman was arrested at the encampment outside City Hall after she set another person's clothes on fire, police said. In another incident hours later, a woman was arrested after protesters said she struck a man with a tent pole. Both were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Also Friday, police arrested a man on suspicion of climbing a tree and dumping fluorescent paint on a historic marble fountain that the city barricaded earlier this week to protect from vandalism.

Activists and L.A. officials faced difficult choices over the next phase of the Occupy L.A. movement as a 12:01 Monday deadline approached for the departure of nearly 700 protesters from an encampment on City Hall grounds. On Sunday evening, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa reiterated an ultimatum that the city's tolerance of the eight-week occupation would end at midnight. "While Occupy L.A. has brought needed attention to the economic disparities in our country, an encampment on City Hall grounds is simply not sustainable indefinitely," he said in a statement.

In November 2008, police say, two gang members entered a secluded homeless encampment covered by brush and trees near the intersection of the 405 and 710 freeways in Long Beach. The gang members were looking for a homeless man who apparently owed them money for drugs. They located him and allegedly opened fire, killing him. The gunmen turned to two men and two women at the encampment, authorities say, killing them because they saw the first slaying. They "were executed ... to ensure there were no witnesses to the crimes," Long Beach Police Lt. Lloyd Cox said of the Nov. 1, 2008 killings.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered the shutdown of the Occupy L.A. encampment on City Hall grounds at 12:01 a.m. Monday, saying officials can no longer "maintain the public safety of a long-term encampment," according to a statement issued Friday. Villaraigosa said the city's General Services Police Department, which enforces the law in city parks, will walk through the encampment handing out bilingual fliers and give verbal notice that the park will close. Social workers will also visit the encampment, according to the statement.

Looking to reopen the City Hall lawn without sparking a new and protracted occupation by demonstrators, the Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to bar tents from being set up in more than 400 parks. Wednesday's vote also explicitly prohibits using sleeping bags or cots in a park once it closes for the day. The changes were spearheaded by Councilman Richard Alarcon, who supported the Occupy movement that brought encampments to major cities around the nation. The city has prohibited camping on city parkland for years, except in areas designated for that purpose.

MOSCOW — Russian riot police cleared a Moscow park early Wednesday of a weeklong encampment considered a local version of the Occupy movement, and hours later clashed with antigovernment protesters outside a Stalinist skyscraper in a different part of downtown. The dispersal of several dozen protesters at the park encampment, called Occupy Abai, preceded a nighttime confrontation at Kudrinskaya Square, where several hundred protesters had gathered to oppose President Vladimir Putin.

The Los Angeles City Council will soon consider curtailing the hours for City Hall park, the site of the two-month Occupy L.A.encampment, when it reopens next month. Instead of the sweeping lawn being accessible to the public from 5 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., as most city parks are, it would open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Existing rules on tents would be clarified and the ban on camping would be reaffirmed. City officials say the area lacks the amenities - lights, recreational facilities - of parks that are open later.

A crackdown on Venice Beach homeless encampments and renegade vendors is pitting longtime residents and merchants against homeless advocates and younger transients. The Los Angeles Police Department enforcement efforts, begun almost two months ago, were spurred by mounting complaints from waterfront residents and business owners who said aggressive, intoxicated transients and violent disputes over vendors' spaces had made the boardwalk an increasingly lawless, frightening place.

The park surrounding Los Angeles City Hall will soon be getting a California makeover, with less green grass and more native and drought-tolerant plants. The City Council voted Tuesday on a plan to restore the grounds around the building after the sprawling lawn was destroyed last year by the Occupy L.A. encampment. Officials considered several options, including one that called for much of the grass to be replanted and another that would have eliminated nearly all of the turf and replaced it with plants that require less water.

Officials surveyed damage Sunday from a volatile Occupy protest that resulted in hundreds of arrests the day before and left the historic City Hall vandalized after demonstrators broke into the building, smashed display cases, cut electrical wires and burned an American flag. Police placed the number of arrests at about 400 from Saturday's daylong protest — the most contentious since authorities dismantled the Occupy Oakland encampment late last year. Mayor Jean Quan condemned the local movement's tactics as "a constant provocation of the police with a lot of violence toward them" and said the demonstrations were draining scarce resources from an already strapped city.

The Girl Scouts threw a birthday party this weekend, and more than 13,000 people came. To honor the 75th anniversary of Girl Scouting in the United States, the 10 Girl Scout councils of Southern California put together its Diamond Jubilee Roundup, which some say is the largest encampment of Girl Scouts ever held.

Reporting from Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles -- Hundreds of supporters of the Occupy Oakland movement were gathered late Wednesday near the area where police and demonstrators clashed in a violent confrontation the night before that left several people injured and more than 100 others arrested. Meanwhile, across the bay, Occupy San Francisco demonstrators faced off with police clad in riot gear along the Embarcadero. Officers chased after several people who had gathered along the street, but it was unclear late Wednesday whether any arrests had been made.

In November 2008, police say, two gang members entered a secluded homeless encampment covered by brush and trees near the intersection of the 405 and 710 freeways in Long Beach. The gang members were looking for a homeless man who apparently owed them money for drugs. They located him and allegedly opened fire, killing him. The gunmen turned to two men and two women at the encampment, authorities say, killing them because they saw the first slaying. They "were executed ... to ensure there were no witnesses to the crimes," Long Beach Police Lt. Lloyd Cox said of the Nov. 1, 2008 killings.

Occupy L.A. protesters planned to leave their mark on City Hall's park with graffiti declarations and treehouses when they were evicted in late November. Instead, they left behind a park stripped of its lush north and south lawns, creating a financial and planning burden for the city and a waiting game for the displaced farmers market that has held sway every Thursday. But in a way, the land is a blank canvas for the city's Recreation and Parks Department, which must decide how to landscape a bit more than 1.7 acres of now-barren soil.