"As a collective, Occupy Los Angeles would like to express their rejection of the city of Los Angeles's alleged proposal that we leave City Hall," protester Jeremy Rothe-Kushel told the Associated Press.
Police will be in City Hall Park over the weekend to forewarn protesters, city officials said on Friday.
'Proud' mayor
Despite issuing the deadline, Mr Villaraigosa spoke about the Occupy movement in terms not often heard from elected officials in the US.
There have been few arrests and little confrontation at the Los Angeles protest
"The movement is at a crossroads," the mayor said. "It is time for Occupy LA to move from holding a particular patch of park land to spreading the message of economic justice and signing more people up for the push to restore the balance to American society."
However, the camp - which has now grown to an estimated 485 tents - was unsustainable because public health and safety could not be maintained, he said.
Using a refrain familiar to protesters from New York, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg complained about the health impact of the Zuccotti Park camp, Mr Villaraigosa said City Hall Park had to be cleared, cleaned and restored for public access.
"I'm proud of the fact that this has been a peaceful, non-violent protest," he said. "I trust that we can manage the closure of City Hall Park in the same spirit of co-operation."
The Occupy LA camp began on 1 October, shortly after the initial Occupy protest in New York City.
Protests in the city have been largely peaceful, with fewer tensions between police and those camping out than in some cities.
In Oakland, California, there were several flashpoints between police and protesters, and police also used pepper spray in breaking up an Occupy camp in Seattle, Washington.
The BBC's Paul Wood was smuggled into Homs were he met military defectors
An Arab League deadline for Syria to allow an observer mission or face sanctions has passed with no response from Damascus to the ultimatum.
The deadline was set for 11:00 GMT. Earlier, the league warned it would meet on Saturday to discuss sanctions.
The league wants 500 observers to enter Syria to monitor the situation amid continuing protests, but Damascus has reportedly agreed to let in only 40.
Meanwhile, new evidence has emerged of protests turning into armed insurgency.
The BBC's Paul Wood, who travelled without permission to Syria's flashpoint city of Homs, reports that he saw a small but steady stream of defectors from the official security forces.
At least 11 people have been killed in the latest violence on Friday, say activists.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in the UK, says the deaths occurred in Homs, Damascus, Deir el-Zour and in the southern province of Deraa.
Other activists - from the Local Co-ordination Committees based in Syria - say as many as 26 people have been killed.
Child torture
A United Nations human rights panel has expressed alarm at reports it received of security forces in Syria torturing children.
The Geneva-based UN Committee against Torture says it has received "numerous, consistent and substantiated reports" of widespread abuse in the country.
"Of particular concern are reports referring to children who have suffered torture and mutilation while detained," said the panel's chairman, Claudio Grossman.
He also cited reports of "extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; arbitrary detention by police forces and the military; and enforced and involuntary disappearances".
The committee said the Syrian authorities had been acting with total impunity while committing what it called "gross and pervasive" human rights violations.
The panel normally reviews each country's record every four years, but took the unusual step Friday of issuing a spontaneous demand to the Syrian government to explain its actions.
More than 3,500 people have died since protests against the Syrian government began in March, the UN estimates.
Violence has continued in Homs and other Syrian cities
The government of President Bashar al-Assad blames the violence on armed gangs and militants.
'Evil plot'
Syrian state television has also blamed militants for an attack on Thursday in which it said six elite military pilots were killed.
"An armed terrorist group undertook an evil assassination plot that martyred six pilots, a technical officer and three other personnel on an air force base between Homs and Palmyra," a military spokesman was quoted as saying.
Reports on Thursday suggested that military defectors from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had said they carried out the attack, but an FSA spokesman later denied responsibility in a BBC interview.
The spokesman, Maher Al-Rahmoun al-Naaimi, said the claim had actually been posted on a fake Facebook page set up in the group's name by Syrian intelligence.
Reports from Syria are difficult to verify as foreign journalists are unable to move around the country freely.
Observer deadline
The Arab League set the deadline for Syria to sign the observer deal - which is a part of a broader peace plan - at a meeting in Cairo on Thursday.
An unnamed Arab source told Reuters news agency that Mr Assad's government would be given until the end of the day to answer.
Earlier this month, the league voted to suspend Syria and warned of unspecified sanctions for not implementing the peace plan.
One of the main sticking points was Damascus' demand to amend the proposal for the 500 observers to be allowed in to Syria.
The Syrian government reportedly wanted to reduce the number to 40 - a request rejected by the 22-member league.
An earlier deadline for Syria to end its crackdown passed last Saturday night with no sign of the violence abating.
Sanctions
The options for sanctions include a suspension of commercial flights to Syria and a halt to all dealings with its central bank.
Damascus depends on its Arab neighbours for half of its exports and a quarter of its imports, according to news agency AFP.
In Cairo, diplomats also appealed to the UN to prevent further violence, asking the world body "to take all measures to support the efforts of the Arab League to resolve the critical situation in Syria".
On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu described the league's deadline as the "last chance" for the Syrian government.
However, Russia again voiced its opposition to the outside pressure, calling for talks between Damascus and the opposition.
France earlier suggested that some sort of humanitarian protection zones be created inside Syria, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo reports.
It is the first hint that international military intervention is under consideration, our correspondent adds.
'Stream of defectors'
Meanwhile, the BBC's correspondent Paul Wood and cameraman Fred Scott have obtained first-hand evidence that the struggle for democracy in Syria is becoming an armed insurgency.
The BBC saw supporters of the opposition Free Syria Army group bringing in guns from Lebanon on old smuggling routes.
Our correspondent says he witnessed casualties coming out the same way in the area which is mined and full of Syrian patrols, but not completely sealed.
Once inside Syria, he saw a steady stream of defectors and exchanges of fire when their former comrades tried to stop them, our correspondent says.
A group of five defectors told the BBC that they had decided to change sides after being ordered to fire on pro-democracy protesters in Homs.
Almost from the beginning, it has been the Syrian government's stance that armed groups are supporting the opposition.
Now that myth of an armed insurgency is becoming reality, our correspondent adds.
Earlier, the head of the FSA, Riyad al-Asad, told the BBC that President Assad was now "finished".
Speaking from a refugee camp in Turkey, he said: "Even if the outside world doesn't help us or stand with us, the Syrian nation is determined to bring down this dictator."
"The system is rotten to the core. It looks strong, perhaps, on the outside but it is weak at the heart," the former colonel in the air force added.
The FSA was formed in August 2011 by army deserters.
The shore at Dalgety Bay has been cordoned off for further investigations
Scotland's environmental watchdog has given the MoD until the end of February to devise a plan to make safe a Fife beach contaminated with radioactivity.
Sepa said that if the deadline was not met the land at Dalgety Bay would be declared officially contaminated.
The radiation is thought to be linked to the remains of wartime aircraft buried in the area.
The MoD said a meeting on the issue had been constructive and it was working with locals and the agencies involved.
Over the past few months more than 200 radioactive particles have been discovered in the area.
The area was cordoned off last month for further investigation into radioactive sources.
The radioactivity is thought to come from dials of World War II aircraft.
Dalgety Bay hosted a wartime airfield, where many aircraft were dismantled.
Community risk
The dials in the planes were coated with radioactive radium so they could be read at night.
They were later used as landfill and it is thought that erosion has led to leaks into the sea which have washed onto the foreshore.
Following a meeting between Sepa, the MoD and members of the local community, Sepa's radioactivity specialist Dr Paul Dale told BBC Scotland: "We have set out a timetable that we expect a full draft of the MoD's plan by the end of January with a final set of plans by the end of February.
"If that isn't forthcoming, Sepa will continue with its progress to designate the land as contaminated by the end of March."
If Sepa did declare the area as "Radioactive Contaminated Land", it is understood this would be the first time it had happened in the UK.
An area of high radioactivity is only legally declared as contaminated if there is not a suitable action plan in place to deal with the problem.
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: "It is deeply disappointing that this situation has arisen as a result of inaction from the Ministry of Defence.
"I have urged the MoD on a number of occasions to take immediate action and come forward with credible plans to investigate the source of the contamination at Dalgety Bay.
"I would have expected the level of radioactivity to have impelled those responsible to do the right thing for the people of Dalgety Bay and clean up this mess."
He added that despite not receiving a response from the MoD to his letter in October, he would be writing again to Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.
"I am keen to establish the precise nature of their commitment," Mr Lochhead said. "The Scottish government prefers that a voluntary approach is taken by the MoD."
In a statement, the MoD said: "We had a constructive meeting today and we will continue to work with Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), the Scottish Executive and the Dalgety Bay Forum."
Independent experts
Radioactive particles were first found on the beach more than 20 years ago.
However, there has recently been an increase in the number of particles found, with more than 100 discovered since the beginning of October.
One particle was 10-times more radioactive than those found previously.
Sepa recently said that if exposed through erosion the material could pose a risk to the community.
It also revealed that further work was carried out last weekend to remove three more sources of radiation from the beach at Dalgety Bay, including one "which gave an extremely high" reading of radioactivity.
Sepa also announced that it plans to establish a group of independent experts in radioactivity to help provide advice and guidance on the contamination at Dalgety Bay.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier called for urgent action to tackle the problem.
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Mayor Villaraigosa has expressed sympathy with the Occupy protesters
There have been few arrests and little confrontation at the Los Angeles protest
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