Five persons were arrested Tuesday night in police operations against Occupy Sydney protests.

Reporters covering the arrests in a building were unable to get clear footage of the incident as police on the operation beamed lights directly into media's cameras.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported five people were arrested for locking themselves inside a building on Clarence Street and unfurling an Occupy Sydney protest banner.

A NSW police spokesman told the Herald Tuesday night about 40 other protesters were outside the building at the time.

The Herald asked Hugo O'Connor, 25, about his experience while filming the arrest. He said the police were preventing him from recording by directing their light onto his filming device.

"That was one of the disturbing things I saw tonight," he said. "They were following me around and there was a guy with a torch."

The Herald said it invited police authorities to comment on the perception that they were preventing the documentation of the arrest, but they could not be contacted Tuesday night.

The protesters told the media that the police pushed them away 10 metres down the street. They further said the unit in the building they occupied was vacant and should be used for housing, instead.