At 10.45pm last night, after days of speculation and rumor, Occupy Austin was evicted from the steps of City Hall.

The Occupiers were told at 9.30pm last night that they had one hour to leave the plaza. New rules had been issued by City Manager Marc Ott‘s office, requiring a reservation by any group planning to use the Mezzanine or Amphitheater, and barring any non-city usage between 10pm and 6am unless there is a city meeting going on. The new rules also ban “sleeping, camping and the use or storage of sleeping equipment” at all times.

Coolers marked in sharpie with SRT (Special Response Team) were seen being taken into City Hall earlier this week, and occupiers had been told on Wednesday that they would face eviction then. That deadline passed with no incident, but the city was obviously preparing for this later event.

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