Police in New York launched a pre-dawn operation to clear the original Occupy Wall Street protesters from a park in the financial district.
The protesters say hundreds of police mobilised around Zucotti park where the movement against inequalilty started.
The BBC reports that protestors chanted All day all week Occupy Wall Street and the whole world is watching as the police moved into the camp.
A live web stream is being made from the park as the eviction proceeds.
A police spokesperson said the city and the owners of the park had issued fliers to the protesters saying the park would be cleared for cleaning because it was a health hazard.
He said most people had begun leaving the park once the order to vacate was given, but a small group of people were refusing to leave.
Fifteen people were reported to have been arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
The protesters set up the Occupy Wall Street camp on 17 September to protest at a financial system they argue mostly benefits corporations and the wealthy.
The movement has sparked similar protests against economic inequality across the United States and elsewhere, including New Zealand.
Earlier, police in California closed down the Occupy Oakland camp across the bay from San Francisco..
Officers in riot gear started clearing up the tented camp shortly after dawn.
There were no reports of injuries or skirmishes during the operation, but police said 33 people were arrested for failing to disperse.
The BBC reports that of all the tent occupations across the US, the Oakland camp had the worst reputation for violence and vandalism.
Police calls for the protesters to cease and desist increased after the shooting of a 25-year-old man near the site on Thursday evening.
In October, an Iraqi war veteran was left in a critical condition after clashes with police.
Oakland mayor Jean Quan says the Oakland camp had recently begun to take a different path from the original movement.
It was no longer about financial abuses, closures or the unemployed, she said, but had become a place where there had been repeated violence and this week, a murder.
At the weekend, police moved to dismantle Occupy camps in Portland, Oregon, where 50 people were arrested, and Utah.
