MOSCOW — The Russian authorities pressed their crackdown on antigovernment protesters on the streets of Moscow on Wednesday, while in Parliament lawmakers prepared to consider a bill that would impose stiff fines on participants and organizers of unsanctioned demonstrations.

Riot police officers, acting in the predawn haze, cleared dozens of protesters from a public square here where they had camped out for more than a week in an anti-Putin demonstration modeled after the Occupy actions in the West.

The protesters had been warned to leave the encampment ahead of a court order to remove them by noon on Wednesday, and though several were detained, many slipped into the subway and quickly set off for another city square a short walk from the American Embassy.

The police, however, seemed intent on preventing them from re-establishing their settlement. As dusk approached, the police began making some arrests at the new location, and they seemed positioned to clear the square at any moment, though a large group of demonstrators remained. One officer told the protesters that they would not be arrested as long as they did not try to sleep on the grass.