Protesters, Police Clash Over Plans To Clear Homeless Community From L.A.'s Echo Park

Hundreds of housed and unhoused residents came together in Los Angeles on Wednesday to protest the planned clearing of a homeless community from Echo Park Lake.

After the city announced plans earlier this month to close off Echo Park for repairs and thus to remove a yearlong community that homeless residents established there hundreds of people rallied at the park early Wednesday to show their support for their unhoused neighbors .

On Wednesday evening, a heavy police presence descended on the park, and protesters linked arms to block them from the encampment. In the clashes, police arrested one woman . A man said an officer broke his arm with a baton. (A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department told HuffPost that it is aware of the incident and looking into the matter.)

Though the encampment was not cleared out Wednesday night, police closed remaining residents in with fencing surrounding the park, only allowing individuals out or escorting people in if they were removing belongings.

The tent community that grew over the past year during the coronavirus pandemic often had dozens of people living there, and residents had organized a garden, a pantry, showers and more. Housed allies provided other support, such as portable batteries to charge phones, said Kelvin Martinez, a member of the homelessness solidarity group Street Watch LA.

Only about a dozen or so residents remain in tents at the site. Many have been moved into transitional housing or shelters by the city, and others have chosen to leave to avoid an expected law enforcement sweep, Martinez said.

Now homeless residents and advocates are concerned about the citys planned clearing of the camp Thursday night. A notice states that starting at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, all personal property, including tents and bags, will be removed.

Activists had planned a peaceful vigil Thursday evening outside Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch OFarrells office to protest the sweep. OFarrells district includes Echo Park.

To Mitch OFarrell, our demand is simply this; please continue to leave us alone, or stand with us, the Echo Park homeless community wrote in a statement earlier this week.

We are here in Echo Park in solidarity with our unhoused neighbors.

Public space for public good. #EchoParkRiseUp pic.twitter.com/YT6LG67zAh

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We are here in Echo Park in solidarity with our unhoused neighbors.

Public space for public good. #EchoParkRiseUp pic.twitter.com/YT6LG67zAh
DSA-LA (@DSA_LosAngeles) March 24, 2021

Please read and share this the statement written by the residents of Echo Park lake. It's truly remarkable. pic.twitter.com/fQlPoNOcxP

End State Violence (@AlmostKelvin) March 23, 2021","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"End State Violence ","author_url":"https://twitter.com/AlmostKelvin","cache_age":86400,"description":"Please read and share this the statement written by the residents of Echo Park lake. It's truly remarkable. pic.twitter.com/fQlPoNOcxP End State Violence (@AlmostKelvin) March 23, 2021\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","thumbnail_height":1396,"thumbnail_url":"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExMG8N0UYA45KD8.jpg:large","thumbnail_width":1246,"title":"End State Violence on 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Please read and share this the statement written by the residents of Echo Park lake. It's truly remarkable. pic.twitter.com/fQlPoNOcxP
End State Violence (@AlmostKelvin) March 23, 2021

In the homeless communitys statement, the Echo Park residents wrote that theyd had nothing but each other this past year and its honestly been a relief.

Without the constant LAPD and city harassment uprooting our lives weve been able to grow. To come together as a community, not just unhoused but housed as well and work together for the mutual aid and benefit of each other, the community members wrote, urging OFarrell to ignore us as if we didnt exist, much like youve been doing... or come out and stand with us.

OFarrell said more than 160 people who resided in the Echo Park Lake encampment had been moved into shelters or hotel rooms under the states Project Roomkey program, meant to provide non-congregate settings to temporarily house people during the pandemic.

Fellow City Councilmember Nithya Raman denounced the sweep, saying that while Ive been happy to see so many people from the lake being housed over the last few days, a forced and sudden eviction is not the way to move forward now.

OFarrell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

California has long faced an affordable housing crisis and has seen its rates of homelessness spike in recent years.

People experiencing homelessness are particularly at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, since living in congregate settings like shelters or encampments can make it difficult to socially distance. They also have more barriers to health care and report higher rates of health conditions, such as asthma and chronic bronchitis, placing them at greater risk for severe cases of COVID-19.

And people of color, who are disproportionately hospitalized and dying from the coronavirus, are also disproportionately represented among Californias homeless.

Martinez noted that hotels and shelters are not gonna work for everybody who is living in tent encampments and that people should not be coerced into shelters. Some people choose to live in tent communities because they may not feel safe in shelters. The hotel rooms also have curfews and other regulations that can leave people feeling infantilized, as he put it.

Its not that they dont want services; its that they want some recognition that the community space theyve been cultivating is one that has a lot of support, Martinez said of the Echo Park tent community. Theres a lot of stability people receive being in community, waking up next to neighbors who know your name.