NYPD arrest homeless advocates for trying to stop removal of homeless encampment

NYPD officers arrested several homeless people as they attempted to block law enforcement officials from carrying out a tear-down of a homeless tent encampment in the East Village on Wednesday.

The homeless activists were detained after they tried to stop the officials from clearing the area of tents, blankets, and other personal belongings as part of Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to rid the streets of homeless individuals. 

The mayor is pushing for homeless people to utilize the city’s homeless shelters and so-called “safe havens” instead of sleeping in the street, but the homeless population says shelters and safe havens are dangerous. They propose the city take advantage of the many empty apartments throughout the city and offer homeless people a proper place to live.

“I don’t need a safe haven or a shelter. I need a home,” said a homeless woman who called herself Cynthia Vee. She told NBC that Adams’ “heavy-handed tactics are not the answer to homelessness.” 

In defense of his plan, Mayor Adams told CNN last week, “I made a commitment that we were going to zero in on encampments so that people who are homeless can live with dignity. There’s nothing dignified about living on the streets.”