In another early morning sweep by officers in riot gear, UCPD cleared out some 20 tents from the Occupy Cal camp on Sproul Plaza. Charitably, cops who surrounded the camp around 3:30 a.m. this morning announced that campers would have ten minutes to clear out their belongings. Even with the brief notice, which apparently caught campers off guard, it appears the plaza cleaning went much more peacefully than other Occupy camp clashes, including the November 9th standoff between students and police officers on the Berkeley campus.

Only two campers were arrested last night: Alex Kim, a UC Berkeley English major who stayed behind for a photo op with his cat and awesome eagle sweater was arrested on suspicion of unlawful assembly and failure to disperse along with Mike Porter, a 24-year-old member of Occupy Oakland.

Echoing what we've heard before, protester Ian Saxton, who promptly packed up when police gave the dispersal order, told the Chronicle, "This size of force is entirely unnecessary... Occupy Cal was a justified assembly by the students and community of UC Berkeley."

Although a bulldozer was seen moving in to sweep the plaza after the raid, ABC7 reports that students were allowed two retrieve two upright pianos they brought out to brighten up the encampment, but a 6-foot-tall papier maché dinosaur named the "regent-a-saurus" was not so lucky. UC Police later urged those demonstrators who planned to return to do so "lawfully and peacefully" and, presumably, without camping equipment.

ABC7 Brings the video report of the aftermath this morning's cleanup efforts:

[Chron]