Sacramento City Hall Protesters Back After Police Break Up Camp

By Kelly Ryan

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) –  Nearly 50 Sacramento police officers came here to the plaza area outside city hall in the early morning hours Saturday to break up an area where homeless supporters set up an encampment.

"The protest has been designed to expose the hardship that is created by the city's camping ordinance which bans all living outside, and if you're homeless you live outside by definition," said Cathleen Williams from the Community Dinner Project.

Police say four people were taken in for resisting arrest and/or illegal camping, and one person for an outstanding warrant. Three others were cited for illegal camping and released, while two others agreed to go to a shelter.

Police estimate at least 20 protesters were there when officers moved in, breaking up the group which had set up camp on December 8.

"We think to make the arrests in the middle of the night, as they did, just created more hardship," Williams said.

A group called the Community Dinner Project says after a year of serving dinner on Tuesday nights before city council meetings, protesters began the encampment to protest the city's camping ordinance.

"This encampment, it's kept clean it orderly, no drugs, no alcohol, no violence," Williams said. "And it's designed to expose the hardship that people are suffering."

In a statement released by the city, a spokesperson says the city had no choice but to enforce laws protecting public health safety and a Sacramento city code that prohibits camping and the storage of camping items on public property.

Officers warned the group before moving in and had located churches where the people could go for shelter, but the protesters refused.

Protesters admit they were warned, but weren't willing to move or back off.

"So they basically outlawed thousands of people in Sacramento who are living in the cold and in this kind of hardship," Williams said.

The city claims the courts have upheld the constitutionality of the anti-camp ordinance. Protesters say that ruling is unconstitutional.

Protesters were back out in front of city hall Saturday night and said they would be out until the anti-camp ordinance is repealed.