{"id":36677,"date":"2024-10-04T09:58:28","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T16:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=36677"},"modified":"2024-10-04T09:58:29","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T16:58:29","slug":"community-occupies-encampment-outside-berkeley-city-hall-protesting-sweeps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/04\/community-occupies-encampment-outside-berkeley-city-hall-protesting-sweeps\/","title":{"rendered":"Community occupies encampment outside Berkeley City Hall protesting sweeps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/users\/profile\/Kelcie%20Lee\">Kelcie Lee<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oct 3, 2024 (DailyCal.org)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/dailycal.org\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/c\/25\/c2508ac2-812d-11ef-8ca1-1352daa00653\/66fdfeec82d9f.image.jpg?resize=400%2C258\" alt=\"occupation_aileen park_ss.jpg\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">City community members gather outside of the Berkeley Courthouse fora protest against encampment sweeps organized by Where Do We Go.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/users\/profile\/Aileen%20Park\">Aileen Park | Senior Staff<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Community members continue to occupy an encampment in front of Berkeley City Hall, calling on the city to provide affordable housing for vulnerable populations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The encampment,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/news\/city\/housing\/demonstration-outside-berkeley-courthouse-protests-encampment-sweeps\/article_ba9a465e-7e14-11ef-8b81-4bdbe5f88d5b.html\">established<\/a>&nbsp;Sunday, consists of about 20 tents occupied by both housed and unhoused people.According to Yesica Prado, a Berkeley Homeless Union officer, there are currently more unhoused people staying in the tents.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prado said they are now operating \u201clike a sanctioned camp,\u201d in hopes to demonstrate \u201csolidarity\u201d and show support among both the housed and unhoused communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to the current heatwave in Berkeley, nonprofit organization Where Do We Go put out a call on Instagram to bring a variety of supplies and cooling resources to endure the heat. Prado said community members \u2014 who are not staying at the encampment \u2014 have also been picking up supplies they need, while others have been \u201cso generous\u201d to drop off food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Andrea Henson, Where Do We Go board chair, noted that canopies and tents under shade have been set up to avoid the heat, while they\u2019ve received ice and water, too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gordon Gilmore, Berkeley Homeless Union co-founder, mentioned the encampment\u2019s demands, including to \u201cstop the sweeps,\u201d \u201cprovide affordable housing assistance and resources for individuals who cannot afford to pay for their rent,\u201d \u201cprovide ADA accessible housing and temporary shelter for those who have disabilities\u201d and an \u201cend of discrimination and segregation of individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re occupying the space as a form of protest until those conditions and asks are met,\u201d Gilmore said. \u201cIn doing so, we\u2019re trying to create a safe space for people to go to if they\u2019re swept from their locations, and simultaneously giving them the ability to come in and give voice to their interests, have that political agency and also create a safe space for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Henson alleged that, in response to the encampment, city employees from the Homeless Services Division were \u201ckicking tents to see if people were inside\u201d and opening tents to \u201ctake pictures inside\u201d on Tuesday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat kind of behavior (against) an already vulnerable population that\u2019s feeling empowered to protest chills freedom of speech,\u201d Henson said. \u201cIt\u2019s coercive, and it\u2019s wrong.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said the city told her they wanted to provide services, but she believes that if this was the case, they would be more welcoming by setting up a table with supplies and water.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response to these allegations, city staff spokesperson Matthai Chakko said the staff was \u201cchecking on different tents\u201d and \u201coffering services,\u201d while being \u201cpolite\u201d and \u201cgracious.\u201d He said they were granted permission to film at the encampment and hope to \u201cget people housed.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have staff that go out to encampments throughout the city to offer services and help people get into housing. We really work very hard at it, and we coordinate with a number of other agencies to make that possible,\u201d Chakko said. \u201cI know that these are issues that our staff work on every day. It takes a lot of personal work, and I personally have seen them do it great.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking forward, people residing in the encampment are holding meetings to discuss the ongoing action and future events, such as yoga in the park.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last night, Henson said dinner was provided by houselessness advocacy group Village in Oakland at 6 p.m. She said evenings allow for community music, \u201choused and unhoused doing duets of Tracy Chapman\u201d and bonding conversation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re allowing people to come here. We\u2019ve been having rallies. We\u2019re planning events to be able to give voice to their protest, especially when Berkeley is supposed to be the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. And everything that they\u2019ve done is killing what Berkeley stood for,\u201d Henson said. \u201cThe allure of Berkeley is the legacy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Courtesy of JP Massar)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Community members continue to occupy an encampment in front of Berkeley City Hall, calling on the city to provide affordable housing for vulnerable populations.&nbsp; The encampment,&nbsp;established&nbsp;Sunday, consists of about 20 tents occupied by both housed and unhoused people.According to Yesica Prado, a Berkeley Homeless Union officer, there are currently more&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/04\/community-occupies-encampment-outside-berkeley-city-hall-protesting-sweeps\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36677"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36678,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36677\/revisions\/36678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}