Homeless individuals and their housed neighbors protested Mayor Eric Adams' encampment sweeps in Tompkins Square Park on Friday, invoking memories of the 1988 riot there.
Friday evening hundreds gathered in Tompkins Square Park to decry the removal of a homeless camp that occurred a few days earlier on April 6. The standoff took place on 9th Street and Avenue B when several tent dwellers refused to cooperate with sanitation workers who attempted to literally trash their homes. This act of defiance has inspired the East Village in a way that has not been seen since the Tompkins Square Park riots more than 30 years ago.
"It hasn't been real for quite a long time. Now it looks like it might start getting real again," said Eric, a long-term housing activist, referring to the infamous and violent battle between squatters and the NYPD in 1988.
[caption id="attachment_137572695" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] [1] Protesters yank down metal barricades. Photo by Dean Moses[/caption] [caption id="attachment_137572696" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] [2] Protesters climbed upon chess tables. Photo by Dean Moses[/caption]
Pulling over metal barricades that were erected around chess tables in order to prevent the unhoused from camping in the area, the protesters not only dismantled the fences and reclaimed that section of the park, but they did also it with a list of demands.
"We are out here with two very clear demands: The first one is an immediate end to the violent sweeps. Our second demand is clean, safe community-controlled housing for every single person in New York," Holden Taylor with the Brooklyn Eviction Defense said.
[caption id="attachment_137572698" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] [3] Protesters fumed over the removals. Photo by Dean Moses[/caption] [caption id="attachment_137572697" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] [4] The park overflowed with protesters. Photo by Dean Moses[/caption]
Climbing atop a table, several fuming speakers charged that history could very well to repeat itself if violence against the vulnerable is not halted. The group also condemned the Department of Homeless services, the NYPD, and the Sanitation Department for throwing out the belongings of those who already have so little.
The gathering drew about 200 onlookers who joined together to march through the park chanting, “Squat, Squat, Squat!”
"Our message is really clear: housing is the solution to homelessness," Sinthia Veev, a member of the encampment said.
amNewYork Metro reached out to the mayor's office and is awaiting a response.
[caption id="attachment_137572700" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] [5] Housing advocates and unhoused New Yorkers protest against the clearing of encampments and call for affordable housing at a rally in Tompkins Square Park in New York, New York, on Apr. 8, 2022. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann[/caption] [caption id="attachment_137572701" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] [6] Housing advocates and unhoused New Yorkers protest against the clearing of encampments and call for affordable housing at a rally in New York, New York, on Apr. 8, 2022.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann[/caption]
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