NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge in New Orleans says he isn’t happy about the city’s early morning eviction of protesters and homeless people from the site where they had been camped since early October.

U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey made the remarks in court Tuesday before holding a private meeting to discuss a possible settlement of litigation over the “Occupy NOLA” site.

About 150 officers marched into the encampment across from City Hall before dawn, forcing an estimated 150 occupants out and removing tents in a peaceful eviction that sometimes drew loud complaints but did not result in violence.

Bill Quigley, a lawyer for people at the campsite, said the move was a surprise and that city officials had said they would not evict the occupants until after Tuesday’s court hearing. He called the city’s move “an insult to the judiciary, an insult to the constitution” and said he would seek civil and criminal sanctions against Mayor Mitch Landrieu and police chief Ronal Serpas.

City officials had accommodated the protesters for weeks at Duncan Plaza, a city block of green space that has been home to the loosely knit Occupy movement since Oct. 6. Authorities allowed tents — some nothing more than tarps or sheets of plastic thrown over ropes strung between trees — to stand unmolested and even provided portable toilets. But Landrieu had warned Friday that it was time for the around-the-clock encampment to end. Police had been distributing flyers warning that the park could no longer be used as a campground and, on Tuesday around 4 a.m., began ringing the park with barricades in preparation for the eviction.

“This was a display of a very well organized, well thought out, and now well executed effort,” Landrieu said at a Tuesday morning news conference.

Landrieu said police and representatives of the city had gone through the camp several times a day since Friday telling people they must leave and handing out flyers telling them to leave.

He thanked the police and the protesters for the peaceful resolution.

“You can see from the way this was conducted it was very different from what happened around the country,” Landrieu said, referring to recent violent clashes between police and protesters in other cities.

Tuesday’s hearing was set so Zainey could hear arguments on whether to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the city from evicting protesters and an injunction that would allow them to continue their around-the-clock occupation.

Police could be seen escorting some of the protesters out of the camp. One protester was arrested for failure to leave and constructing on a public space, Serpas said. The man told police he wanted to be arrested, Serpas said. Another man was taken to the hospital complaining of chest pains.

“You people are treasonous!” one protester shouted as uniformed officers moved through the makeshift camp grounds. But there were no signs of the violence that has accompanied other, larger evictions in other cities where the offshoots of the Occupy Wall Street movement have taken hold.

“I know that they think they’re doing a good thing because they’re not in here beating us with nightsticks or spraying us with Mace. But wrong is still wrong,” said Jasmine Bailey, a spokeswoman for the protesters.

But Serpas and other city officials said the protesters were violating the law with makeshift structures in the park and by staying in the park after 10:30 at night.

Once the park is cleaned, Landrieu said protesters would be welcome to use it during park hours.

“They can come protest at City Hall if they want to,” he said. “They don’t have to go across the street.”

The protesters’ lawsuit says evicting them from the park would violate their constitutional right to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech.

At least 43 homeless people were taken from the park to a facility where their needs could be evaluated and they could be placed in housing, said Stacy Horn Kotch, director of homeless services for the city. Many, however, chose to avoid official offers of help.

“I’ll take my chances out here,” said Pete Frazer, 43. “I don’t trust ‘the man.”’

The encampment — dozens of tents, an information booth and a covered area where food was served — dates back to an Oct. 6 “Occupy New Orleans” march that drew well over 200 marchers representing a variety of causes. They said they were protesting proposed cuts in Medicare spending, the war in Afghanistan, perceived corporate greed and a variety of other social ills in a spinoff of New York’s Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.

Although police in body armor and helmets were on a side street, out of sight of the encampment, the officers moving through the park before sunup Tuesday were in regular uniforms with holstered sidearms. One had a bullhorn and was ordering the park’s occupants to clear out. Once the occupants were out, trash trucks moved in to start clearing debris.

Protester Verrick Bills of New Orleans said there was no violence or undue force used by police in the eviction. “They have been very polite, very nice,” Bills said.