NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Over 100 homeless people, activists and neighbors peacefully gathered in Tompkins Square Park on Friday to protest the homeless encampment clearance program that Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD have been carrying out over the course of the last month.
The protesters demanded an end to the sweeps and permanent, community-controlled housing for homeless New Yorkers.
A homeless encampment near the park was targeted for two sweeps recently, and the residents have since rebuilt a third time as an act of civil disobedience.
The demonstration’s organizers, Brooklyn Eviction Defense and the Rent Refusers Network, have rallied around the encampment and supported the residents as they rebuild.
“We’ve been at the camp site every day,” said Holden, one of the organizers of the protest and a member of Brooklyn Eviction Defense. “For hours and hours we were doing shifts watching out for sanitation, watching out for NYPD. We helped North Brooklyn Mutual Aid get more tents here when they threw out the old ones.”
Protesters listened to speeches by homeless people and activists, marched to the site of the encampment near the park and chanted slogans like “F*** Eric Adams.”
The speakers, some of whom have been targeted by the sweeps, expressed anger at landlords, the mayor and police.
“Eric Adams is a cop. Eric Adams will always be a cop,” said one speaker. “Stop acting like a f***ing asshole and help your people. Help the poor.”
When asked for comment, the mayor's office cited an interview Adams did with NY1 in which he addressed criticism of the sweeps.
“A tent and a cardboard box is not the only place a person can go. This is a right to shelter city. No one is turned away if they need shelter,” Adams said. "And then we're looking at our safe haven beds, where we're helping those with mental illnesses get the wrap around services they deserve. I am not going to allow the normalizing of people living on our streets that we have allowed to happen before…It is inhumane. It is not right.”
Teams of police officers, sanitation workers and social workers carried out 328 sweeps as of Wednesday. Only five people had accepted services during a sweep as of last week.
One of the residents of the encampment near Tompkins Square Park explained why he prefers living on the street to the shelter system.
“Homeless shelters and safe havens are abusive environments. The staff belittle people. They can curse people out. They can threaten people, and they cover for each other. When a homeless person tries to report shelter abuse they are silenced,” said Johnny Grima. “Staff hold all the power.”
Jose Hernandez, 71, also lives in the encampment and decided to leave the shelter system after he was robbed twice.
During both of the sweeps at the encampment police destroyed tents, bedding and other belongings of the people living there.
Now in its third incarnation, the encampment has become a symbol of resistance against the sweeps and housing activists have rallied to its defense.
Six housed activists and one resident of the encampment were arrested during the sweep on Wednesday while attempting to protect the belongings of the people living there.
“This is not just a single instance of violence by the state,” said Nico, an organizer with Brooklyn Eviction Defense. “This is an ongoing class war against poor and working class people, against people who don’t have full control over their housing.”
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