This must be the reason the Los Angeles City Council wanted Occupy LA out of downtown. I’m kidding!

Factions within Occupy LA are calling for the removal of “property” from the Occupy Statement of Principles of Non-Violence or to have the statement non-violence be modified to precisely define and codify what property damage is allowable. The matter is due to be voted on tonight, 12/23 in the General Assembly, the Friday night before a major holiday when many people are unable to attend.

Republican Governor Scott Walker has proposed a new policy “to require future protesters to pay in advance to stage an event, at a cost of $50 per hour, per Capitol Police officer.” Not only would protesters be on the hook for that, but they would also possibly have to pay for liability insurance or bond and even the cost of cleanup following the protest.

At least a dozen Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers went undercover to infiltrate Occupy LA, AP reports. A “police source” says they wanted to uncover information on the protester’s “intentions,” like what they were planning to do to “resist the eviction” or what plans they had to “use weapons against police.”

This media pool drew mainstream media into the inner circle, where they were treated to a display of courteous policing and nonviolence by the police. Even I was impressed by the police. The operation was smooth and efficient and tactical.

“Then the pool media was divided from the regular media, and kept in the inner circle. They were not present to witness the brutality and violence enacted by LAPD officers who were kettling and running after protestors in order to beat them outside the park and mainstream media attention. LAPD smoothly kept MSM from witnessing this, and tried to control other media by constant kettling and dividing of the crowd.”

Last night 1400 Los Angeles police raided and shut down the Occupy LA encampment and then dismantled it, bringing in heavy equipment to destroy all structures and throw everything into dumpsters. Who is paying for this massive misuse of force?

For the past six hours, it has been clear that the LAPD was building up for a raid on Occupy LA tonight. The biggest hint was the decision to hold a lottery for press that would be allowed into a “pool” that would be protected and allowed on the scene during the raid. Any media not in the “pool” would likely face arrest if they did not disperse from the area when police began to move in to make arrests.

Under the LAPD’s guidelines, the OccupyLA media team–which includes photographers, videographers, livestreamers and reporters is not credentialed.

There is no Spanish-language media in the pool in a city where 4.7 million people are Spanish speaking. As Monday morning’s midnight-plus-one deadline drew near, there were news crews from the BBC and a Tokyo station present, as well as KMEX (Spanish language). I saw KTLA which was live streaming and had a helicopter overhead, KNBC, KABC, KCBS/KCAL and stringers in unmarked vans. Reporters I ran into included ones from the LA Times and USC’s Daily Trojan, and dozens of people live streaming and taking pictures for blogs and independent media. Oh and Andrew Breitbart was there talking to some dudes with scarves over their faces.

The threat of LAPD evicting Occupy LA in the wee hours brought out about a 1000 protestors and the media, but the feared confrontation hardly occurred. Protestors mostly obeyed LAPD orders to remain on sidewalks, and only a few arrests were made.

Occupy LA has received their official, “Time To Go” notice from the city for midnight Monday morning, and many people, including the cops, the mayor, and the majority of Occupiers hope that whatever goes down doesn’t involve nasty gas, truncheons and/or rubber bullets.