After an encampment of homeless people was forcibly removed from their location on the Berkeley Civic Center steps on Monday, November 7, they reestablished on the corner of Allston Way and Milvia Street, across the street from Berkeley High School. It was the second time that the Berkeley Police Department moved the encampment, previously having been removed on Friday, November 4.
During the Friday morning breakdown of the Adeline encampment, Nanci Armstrong-Temple, a former candidate for the City Council, was arrested for interfering with police action. A video of the arrest was posted online, along with a later video statement by Armstrong, decrying her treatment by law enforcement. Ultimately, no charges against Armstrong were filed, but it is only the latest in an ongoing string of conflicts between local law enforcement and the homeless in Berkeley. Earlier this year, a metal fence was erected next to the Downtown Berkeley post office, blocking off a corner where the activist group First They Came For the Homeless joined forces with the Berkeley Post Office Defenders to establish a similar encampment for seventeen months.
The recent effort is unrelated to the post office, although the new encampment is across the street from the previous set-up. First They Came for the Homeless has taken over a lawn across from BHS that is a popular place for students to meet for lunch. Despite being so close, not many students are aware of the purpose of the encampment. One student said that they were curious but also used to the large presence of homeless people in Downtown Berkeley. Thus far, the proximity of the encampment to the school has not been an issue, and although administration and staff are very aware of the situation, there has been no official response.
In protest of the police intervention, members of the encampment poured red paint on the Civic Center steps, symbolizing the blood of the homeless community. The Facebook page for First They Came For the Homeless, founded and run by members of the encampment, documented the interaction with the police through video and pictures.
A member of the collective explained that the state of California does not adequately support the homeless community, and therefore the group has established their own system of support and resources.
“We have food here and tents,” they said, adding that “We are doing here what the state is not doing.”
The protest seeks to draw attention to the lives and plight of the homeless community. Their primary hope is that the City of Berkeley will provide a dedicated piece of land for a permanent encampment. In alignment with this agenda, the community does not support substance abuse or lawlessness, and they have had to expel people from the camp for misrepresenting the group as disruptive and unsettled vagrants.
According to an article published on BerkeleySide, the City Council has gathered a specific team to assist in finding a more permanent location for the encampment, but tension between the city and the homeless persists.