BOSTON — The police swept into Occupy Boston’s campsite early Saturday morning, bringing one of the country’s largest continuous demonstrations inspired by New York City’s Occupy Wall Street protest to an end.

Boston police said 46 people had been arrested during what the city’s police commissioner, Edward Davis, said was “by and large” a peaceful eviction.

Police officers arrived shortly before 5 a.m., dragging tents out of the camp and warning the roughly 75 protesters who had stayed the night there that they would be arrested if they did not leave.

“The first thing I heard was the sound of a knife ripping through a tent,” said Mike Hipson, a demonstrator who stayed through the night. A group linked arms and awaited arrest as police officers backed vans into the camp.