1 of 6. The Occupy Los Angeles encampment at City Hall Park is seen before the midnight deadline for eviction from City Hall Park passes in Los Angeles, November 27, 2011. 
 
 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Police in riot gear closed in before dawn on Monday on anti-Wall Street activists in Los Angeles who defied a midnight deadline to vacate a camp outside City Hall, but stopped short of clearing the encampment. 
 
 Police managed to reopen blocked streets for morning rush-hour commuters after a tense standoff with protesters who had taken over a downtown intersection, but remnants of a crowd that had swelled to 2,000 overnight remained at City Hall. 
 
 Four demonstrators were arrested during the brief confrontation, accused of being present at an unlawful assembly, before police ultimately pulled back from City Hall park. 
 
 Later, attorneys for Occupy LA asked a federal judge for an injunction barring police from evicting the camp, arguing that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and police chief Charlie Beck had violated their civil rights by ordering it dismantled. 
 
 The Los Angeles encampment, which officials had tolerated for weeks even as other cities moved in to clear out similar camps, is among the largest on the West Coast aligned with a 2-month-old national Occupy Wall Street movement protesting economic inequality and excesses of the U.S. financial system. 
 
 Villaraigosa eventually gave protesters until just after midnight to remove their tents and leave or face a forcible removal, setting the stage for the latest showdown between leaders of a major U.S. city and the Occupy movement. 
 
 But about two hours after the eviction deadline had passed, police commanders said they would permit the Occupy LA encampment to stay until at least daybreak. Police Commander Andrew Smith later said he thought it was "highly unlikely" that the camp would be forced to shut down on Monday. 
 
 Elsewhere in the country, a 5 p.m. Sunday deadline set by Philadelphia officials for Occupy protesters there to move from a similar encampment came and went without incident. 
 
 Dozens of people heeded the order but many tents and other structures stayed put. Police sources said authorities were hoping the rest of the protesters would relocate voluntarily and that no major actions were expected before Tuesday. 
 
 'WHOSE STREET? OUR STREET!' 
 
 Staking its place since October 1 on the grounds surrounding City Hall, the Los Angeles camp had grown to roughly 400 tents and 700 to 800 people, organizers and municipal officials said. At least a third of campers were believed to be homeless. 
 
 By Sunday night the size of the crowd outside City Hall swelled further as supporters from organized labor, clergy, civil rights and other groups streamed into the area, answering a call for an 11th-hour show of support. 
 
 The overall number of protesters, some wearing gas masks, had grown to at least 2,000 by late Sunday, police estimated. 
 
 After keeping out of sight throughout the day on Sunday, police began to make their presence known as the mayor's eviction deadline passed, and the protesters' mood turned from calm and festive to rowdy. 
 
 Demonstrators and police confronted each other overnight but except for some debris thrown by protesters at one point, there was no violence. One skirmish involved an intersection occupied by protesters. 
 
 Minutes after ordering protesters in the street to disperse, dozens of helmeted police carrying night sticks and special shotguns for firing "bean-bag" projectiles enclosed the intersection and forced their way into the crowd. 
 
 Most in the crowd quickly retreated into the park, as onlookers chanted "Whose street? Our Street" at police and shouted at those defying police to "Get off the street!" 
 
 Someone hurled what appeared to be pieces of a bamboo pole and a bottle at police, and Smith said four people were arrested. 
 
 Los Angeles has been relatively accommodating to its Occupy group compared to other major cities, with Villaraigosa at one point providing ponchos to campers when it rained. 
 
 But after the collapse of negotiations aimed at persuading protesters to relocate voluntarily, the mayor said last week the encampment would have to go. 
 
 The mayor complimented the protesters on Sunday for staying peaceful. But he added in a statement: "It is time for Occupy LA to move from focusing their efforts to hold a particular patch of park land to spreading the message of economic justice and restoration of balance to American society." 
 
 He said he hoped to avoid the sporadic violence that erupted in other cities when police used force against Occupy protesters. 
 
 A number of protesters early on Monday credited the police with showing restraint, including Clark Davis, an Occupy LA organizer, who said to Smith and a group of other officers standing by, "You guys have been fantastic." 
 
 (Writing by Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb; Additional reporting by Lucy Nicholson and Dave Warner in Philadelphia; Editing by Greg McCune and Cynthia Johnston) ||||| Although Occupy L.A. participants on Sunday vowed to defy an order to abandon their City Hall encampment, police said they are still hoping to clear the park without a violent confrontation. 
 
 The city has notified protesters that City Hall Park will be closed beginning at midnight Sunday, setting the stage for a possible showdown between police and demonstrators. 
 
 “We still hoping that they will respect the 12:00 deadline that they’ve been given,” Cmdr. Andrew Smith told a KCAL 9 reporter, standing outside police headquarters across the street from the Occupy encampment. 
 
 PHOTOS: Occupy L.A. 
 
 “We’ve learned from lot of our own mistakes in the past several years,” Smith said. “We’ve done a lot of training with our officers. The good news is that we’ve maintained a good dialogue … with the people across the street, stressing nonviolence. We hope that continues.” 
 
 But Smith declined to discuss what the police strategy would be or whether evictions would begin immediately after midnight. 
 
 “We don’t discuss tactics,” he said. “Our policy has always been to not broadcast our strategy in advance.” 
 
 FULL COVERAGE: Occupy protests 
 
 Earlier, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa issued a statement saying Occupy LA protesters would have "ample time" to leave before police begin clearing their tent village. 
 
 "Though the park will officially close tonight at 12:01 a.m., the department will allow campers ample time to remove their belongings peacefully and without disruption," Villaraigosa said in a written statement Sunday night. 
 
 The mayor reiterated his earlier statements that the seven-week occupation of City Hall's south lawn had run its course and that it was time for protesters to move on. 
 
 But some protesters have vowed to stay put. 
 
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 FULL COVERAGE: Occupy protests around the nation 
 
 City councilman urges Occupy L.A. to move indoors, into politics 
 
 Occupy L.A. campers play, pray as city’s midnight deadline looms 
 
 --Carlos Lozano 
 
 Photo: LAPD officers talk with an Occupy LA protester just a few hours before the midnight deadline for the occupiers to pack up their tents and vacate the area. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times ||||| Members of Occupy Philadelphia remain on site at City Hall into the evening of Nov. 28. (David M Warren / Staff Photographer) 
 
 About 100 Occupy Philly protesters sat down on the cold concrete of Dilworth Plaza at 5 p.m. Sunday and waited to be rousted for violating a deadline Mayor Nutter had set for the group to leave. 
 
 But the expected police eviction had not happened by late Sunday evening, and city officials continued to avoid saying when, or whether, they would throw the Occupiers and their tents off City Hall's so-called front lawn. 
 
 "We are expecting people to pack up and leave," said Mark McDonald, spokesman for Mayor Nutter. "I'm not going to speculate about what the city might do at any time down the road from now." 
 
 For about 90 minutes, protesters chanted slogans such as, "What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like." 
 
 They served squash soup in paper cups, handed out bottles of water, and railed against what they believe is excessive corporate greed and power. 
 
 All the while, police looked on calmly. 
 
 Police had no plans to evict anyone, Chief Inspector Joseph Sullivan said about 6:30 p.m. 
 
 "We look forward to working with Occupy Philadelphia and a resolution of the problem. Confrontation is never good. Anyone who is being fair would have to say that there is a big difference between the police reaction to Occupy Philadelphia than in other cities," he said. 
 
 "I definitely, definitely want to really stress that the vast majority of people participating in this movement have been cooperative, nonviolent, and very respectful," he said. 
 
 Sullivan cautioned, however, that protesters would be prevented from setting up another camp elsewhere in the city unless they got a permit. 
 
 The city has said it needs to erect fencing this week for work at Dilworth Plaza, including renovation of the SEPTA tunnels and the addition of grass, a cafe, stage, and winter ice rink. 
 
 Over the last few days, Occupy Philly participants, many homeless, had begun to take down their tents. By 7:15 p.m. Sunday, roughly a third of what originally was about 300 tents were gone. 
 
 Darrin Annussek, an unemployed career counselor, and William Tuttle, a student, were folding up Annussek's tent Sunday. Someone had stolen Tuttle's tent, and the men, who got married at Occupy Philly last month, said they probably would move to the Occupy site in Washington. 
 
 "I wanted to protest the fact that corporations have too much control and government hasn't done much to stop it," Annussek said. 
 
 He said he believed Nutter had exaggerated the health and safety concerns the mayor cited in explaining why he could not issue protesters a permit for a new location once the $50 million renovation project began. 
 
 "I really thought this would become one of the longer occupations," Annussek said. 
 
 Ellen Rogovinhart of Elkins Park said she thought the city could have done more to help the Occupiers find a new location, possibly in a church. 
 
 "I know the city has work to do," Rogovinhart said. "But I think this is a very important movement." 
 
 She was hoping Philadelphia police would not use force, as police in Oakland and other cities have, to get Occupiers to move. 
 
 Rogovinhart held a sign that read, "The eyes of the world are watching to see if we are the city of brotherly and sisterly love today." 
 
 At times it seemed the whole world were watching. On Sunday night, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, using the screen name @Uncle Rush, went on Twitter to ask Nutter to "remember this is a nonviolent movement - please show restraint tonight." 
 
 Nutter tweeted back that he agreed. 
 
 On the west side of City Hall, several hundred people gathered to observe what would happen to those risking arrest. The crowd used its "human mic" system of amplification, in which others repeat what each person says so all could hear. 
 
 "I went to college. I graduated with honors," Marcel Williams Foster yelled, and the crowd repeated. "I work three part-time jobs with no benefits and I have $50,000 in student loans." 
 
 Lauren Keiser, 26, a student from Audubon, said she was willing to get arrested because she believed homeless people, who are a constant presence on the plaza, deserve more help. She thinks the money that will transform Dilworth could be better spent on housing, addiction programs, and other services.
– The Occupy LA encampment got a stay of execution this morning—though a few arrests have been reported beyond the boundaries of City Hall Park. Two hours after protesters defied city hall's order to vacate the park by 12:01am, lawyer and Occupy supporter Jim Lafferty told Reuters he expected police to give the camp a two-day reprieve. At around 5am, police told protesters over a loudspeaker that they didn't intend to clear the park, the LA Times reports. Police do, however, intend to clear protesters out of the street, and several people who refused to move out of an intersection have already been arrested. "We definitely need to get morning traffic in," a police commander explained. Everything also seems calm at Occupy Philadelphia, where protesters defied a 5pm Sunday deadline to disperse. But as of last night, a police inspector said they didn't intend to forcibly evict anyone. "We look forward to working with Occupy Philadelphia and a resolution of the problem," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Confrontation is never good."