New York police drove Occupy Wall Street protesters away from Zuccotti Park early Tuesday after they have camped there for nearly two months and arrested around 200 protesters for resisting orders.

Police stand guard as Occupy Wall Street protesters demonstrate near Zuccotti Park in New York City, the United States, Nov. 15, 2011. New York police cleared up Zuccotti Park early Tuesday after Occupy Wall Street protesters encamped for two months, and arrested around 200 protesters for resisting orders. [Deng Jian/Xinhua]

As early as 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, New York police arrived at Zuccotti Park and asked the protesters to leave the park and removed their tents, sleeping bags and other belongings. Sanitation workers also came to dismantle tents, clean up the trash and spray water over the square.

Paul Browne, a spokesman for the New York Police Department, said the park had been cleared by 4:30 a.m.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that about 200 protesters were arrested.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the press that he has become increasingly concerned that the occupation was coming to "pose a health and fire safety hazard to the protesters and to the surrounding community."

He said the clean-up was conducted "to reduce the risk of confrontation in the park, and to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood."

"We have been in constant contact with Brookfield and yesterday they requested that the city assist it in enforcing the no sleeping and camping rules in the park," the Mayor said.

He said that the park was becoming "a place where people came not to protest, but rather to break laws, and in some cases, to harm others." 

The park,located in the city's financial district, had been closed since the police raid.

The judge, Justice Michael D. Stallman, handed down his decision late Tuesday afternoon, saying that the protesters are allowed to go to Zuccotti Park but could not take their tents and sleeping bags.

Justice Stallman said that the demonstrators “have not demonstrated that they have a First Amendment right to remain in Zuccotti Park, along with their tents, structures, generators and other installations” — to the exclusion of the landlord or “others who might wish to use the space safely.” 

A protester told Xinhua that they will hold meetings in the afternoon to plot the next move. "This will not stop us. It is not an end, but a new beginning," he said.

Since September 17, protesters have occupied Zuccotti Park to protest against an unjust economic system. Local residents and small business owners have long complained that the encampment was interfering with businesses in the area, and that conditions in the park were becoming increasingly intolerable.