Police made one arrest after hundreds of officers converged on Parliament Square in London on Sunday night in an attempt to remove Occupy Democracy protesters.

A Metropolitan police spokesman said that officers were enforcing a notice to desist. The demonstrators, who were in the third day of occupying the square, were given 30 minutes to leave or face arrest.

Possessing items that could be used for sleeping in Parliament Square was made illegal under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.

One protester used a smartphone to send a live video stream of the eviction to the Bambuser website as others condemned the police action on social media.

Officers could be seen dragging away some of the protesters after they refused to leave.

An Occupy spokeswoman described the police action as “absolutely crazy”.

She said offficers told them that they could not sit on tarpaulins, which were deemed to be “structures”.

Officers did not remove all of the protesters and between 50 and 100 remained in the square late on Sunday night.

The person who was arrested was being held in custody at Charing Cross police station.

Occupy London said on its Twitter feed: “David Cameron supported HK pro-democracy protests but is intent on crushing them in UK w[ith] violence.”

The group planned to remain in Parliament Square for another week. According to its website, the goal of the Occupy Democracy campaign is to “direct the energy from current single-issue struggles into a critical mass that can radically challenge the corrupt and unrepresentative system”.