16 arrested while occupying park to protest Salt Lake City's response to homelessness - Salt Lake Tribune

Police early Sunday arrested 16 demonstrators who had been camping in the park that surrounds Salt Lake City Hall to protest the treatment of people experiencing homelessness.

The group, a subset of the activist group Civil Riot called the Take Shelter Coalition, set up tents in Washington Square Park on Thursday, and said demonstrators would stay there until public officials listened to their demands, which include opening a downtown shelter to replace the now-shuttered Road Home and to stop ticketing people for camping.

It took police in riot gear more than three hours to clear them all out.

Tensions between police and protesters had been escalating since the group arrived at the park. Activist Marvin Oliveros told The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday that police had been intimidating demonstrators. Officers went through the park Friday night and Saturday evening, leaving printouts of city ordinances outlining the park’s curfew and the camping prohibition, which upset many of the protesters.

Video of the Saturday evening encounter, which demonstrators characterized as an ambush, shows protesters shouting at the officers circulating the notices, with the person behind the camera telling other demonstrators they aren’t obligated to talk to police and not to accept any paper they’re offered.

Salt Lake City police spokesman Detective Greg Wilking acknowledged the hostility, and said it was part of the reason the department bore down on the park Saturday night.

“It’s been dangerous for officers,” he said.

(Paighten Harkins | The Salt Lake Tribune) People stand near tents at a protest at Washington Square Park on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020. Police later moved in to disperse the demonstrators who were occupying the park. Sixteen people were arrested.

Wilking said that the demonstrators also interfered with officers’ ability to respond to welfare calls for people inside tents at the campsite. He referenced a medical incident earlier Saturday, where he said police weren’t allowed to accompany medics responding to a call for help into the campsite.

He called it a “danger to the public.”

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A post on the Civil Riot Facebook page says that medics arrived at the park but wouldn’t go inside the campsite until police arrived to escort them. It said, ”This person was made unsafe by having to wait for cops in order to get to a [hospital]. … [W]e were all made unsafe by the presence of cops in camp. Cops anywhere make us all less safe.”

On Saturday evening, about an hour after officers arrived to give their second and final warning to demonstrators, coalition organizer KC Fralick said she knew officers were going to come back later. Numerous people had already packed up and left because of it.

And while the group members initially said they planned to stay, perhaps, indefinitely, Fralick explained the coalition wouldn’t pressure anyone to stay if they didn’t want to. “Everybody’s going to have to make some hard decisions,” she said.

Adding, “I think that the work we are doing here is crucial. I think that unsheltered people in our community are so frequently cast aside, and we have a real opportunity to show that we will not quietly allow this continued systemic persecution of our friends and neighbors.”

(Paighten Harkins | The Salt Lake Tribune) Protesters and onlookers watch as Salt Lake City police move in on a group of protesters occupying Washington Square Park on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020.

Police returned about 10:30 p.m. Saturday. They shut down stretches of road around Salt Lake City Hall, set up flood lights and projected their voices on megaphones: After 11 p.m., police said, everyone in the park is violating curfew. Leave or face the consequences. Beds are available to those who need them.

Meanwhile, demonstrators linked arms and formed a chain around the campsite, shouting back protest chants and their demands that drowned out the commands.

“No police harassment!” a protester called. “No police harassment,” the group yelled back.

A majority of demonstrators left the park in a procession just after 11 p.m., chanting “Si se puede!”, in English: Yes, you can.

About an hour later, officers wearing riot gear began moving closer, incrementally, until they surrounded the demonstration campground on three sides.

(Paighten Harkins | The Salt Lake Tribune) An ACLU legal observer documents as Salt Lake City police move in to disperse a group of protesters occupying Washington Square Park on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020. Sixteen people were arrested.

The more than a dozen who remained gathered in the heart of the campsite, singing as police closed in. The two sides met. Police pushed in, demonstrators pushed back and onlookers, many with cameras trained on the clash, shouted in protest of what they saw.

“Leave now,” an officer called.

“You leave now,” a protested shouted back.

Shouting continued until about 2 a.m., when police were done. The campers were dispersed, and tents, pieces of clothing, bedding and bags left in their wake. Wilking said officers would collect personal belongings and store them until the owners could pick them up.

On its Twitter account, Salt Lake City Police Department posted that officers showed “great restraint." “We have planned and carried out a strategic removal of the protesters tonight. We have provided resources for those that are experiencing homelessness. We invite a civil dialogue to address concerns.”

In all, 16 people were arrested. Among them, Marvin Oliveros.

On Friday, Oliveros said he and other activists had tried the “proper channels” (sending out a demand letter, asking for meetings, attending and protesting at a city council meeting) to express their concerns, but the group didn’t get the response they wanted.

This demonstration, he said, while set up just yards from city hall, was not for the people who work inside the building. It was for the everyday folks who’d pass by the pop-up tent city and wonder why it was there.

“Whether it be people driving by just being curious, or people that might have noticed things here and there and now they see this [demonstration], and maybe that gives them enough interest to really dig in themselves,” he said.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Take Shelter Coalition, consisting of several community action groups erects shelters on Friday, Jan. 3, 2020, at Salt Lake City Hall to show support of the homeless and to demand shelter and dignity for those who have been living on the streets.

The coalition has advocated to replace the 400 emergency shelter beds that disappeared with The Road Home’s closure, for police to stop writing camping tickets until those additional beds are created, to change the law to increase the occupancy caps at the three new shelter centers and provide free public transportation fare for everyone staying at a shelter.

The downtown shelter had nearly the same number of beds as the new resource centers but had space for about 1,100 people total using mats and cots — nearly 400 more than the resource centers are able to hold.

Amid concerns about capacity during the cold weather months, leaders in the transition to the new homeless services system have promised no one would be turned away and have made space available in a 24-hour warming room at the Weigand Center, which offers people a place to get out of the cold but is not meant for sleeping.

Saturday, after many of the coalition members dispersed, Oliveros said he and organizer Ethan Petersen were planning to meet police as they entered the campground.

Jail records say Petersen also was arrested.

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16 arrested while occupying park to protest Salt Lake City's response to homelessness - Salt Lake Tribune
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