A tent that had been pitched in suburban New York, for Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy has been dismantled amid threats of criminal action by local authorities.
Officials in the affluent town of Bedford, about 50 km north of New York City, had ordered the tent be taken down because it violated building and zoning law, authorities said.
The tent had been put up on land owned by developer Donald Trump.
Colonel Gadafy is known for pitching a large Bedouin tent on his trips abroad. It was the Libyan leader's third attempt to have a tent set up in the New York area for his stay.
The 213-acre (86-hectare) estate is owned by Seven Springs LLC, part of the Trump Organisation. Mr Trump said the land had been leased on a short-term basis to Middle Eastern partners.
"We have requested that the tenant occupying the property in Bedford, New York remove the tent that was erected. They have complied with this request," the Trump Organisation said in a statement last night. "Additionally, Mr Gadafy will not be going to the property."
Earlier yesterday, Col Gadafy delivered a rambling 94-minute speech to the UN General Assembly that touched on everything from the assassination of John F. Kennedy to swine flu and denounced the powers of the UN Security Council, which he said should be called the "Terror Council."
Col Gadafy last month had plans to erect a tent in suburban New Jersey where the Libyan Embassy owns property, but the US government blocked those plans. A request to set up his tent in New York's Central Park was also turned down. He was believed to have stayed at Libya's UN mission in New York City on Tuesday night.
Bedford is home to such celebrities as homemaking expert Martha Stewart and fashion designer Ralph Lauren. It is 20 km from Chappaqua, where former president Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton own a home.
Reuters