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

Laura Spivak

Sitting next to supporters, Johnny Grimma, left, who is homeless and lives in a tent, looks around at the police activity at a small homeless encampment in New York, Wednesday, April 6, 2022. The small encampment of homeless people and their supporters defiantly stood its ground against New York City police and sanitation workers before authorities moved in Wednesday afternoon to clear tents, blankets and other belongings as part of a crackdown launched by Mayor Eric Adams to rid his city of people living in the streets. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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.”

ARTICLE: LAURA SPIVAK

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE

PHOTO CREDITS: ROME SENTINEL

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Laura Spivak

Laura is a freelance writer out of Maryland and a mom of three. Her background is in political science and international relations, and she has been doing political writing and editing for 17 years. Laura has also written parenting pieces for the Today Show and is currently working on writing a collection of remarkable true stories about normal people. She writes for FBA because unbiased news is vital to unity, and readers deserve the facts free of opinion.
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