KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — With buckets of bleach, street sweepers, bulldozers and police tape, crews are working to clear the abandoned Bronson Park homeless encampment.
Bronson Park will not be reopened until sometime Thursday. City crews laid down top soil and seeded the area left bare by the tents.
Kalamazoo Public Safety officers moved in on the remaining protesters around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday and began opening up tents, waking up campers, and asking them to leave.
City officials say a total of 14 were arrested. 10 were charged with breaking a police line. That’s refusing to leave the park after they were warned that they were in violation of park rules.
Three were arrested on outstanding warrants.
They tried not to arrest City Commissioner Shannon Sykes-Nehring saying because she is a City Commissioner officials said she had the right to be in the park during a police excersize.
However, Nehring reportedly latched on to one of the arrested protesters.
When it looked like that was not going to get her to the jail, she began resisting, blocking the path of a police vehicle and was arrested.
She became the 14th to be hancuffed, charged with attempted resisting and obstructing.
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KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — Even with their eviction notice, some protesters are still in Bronson Park and refusing to leave.
Kalamazoo city officials announced Monday that the campers could be arrested and prosecuted for violating a city ordinance if they remained there after seven 7 p.m. Tuesday.
It was tense as the deadline approached and the protesters stood in a line, arm and arm, and used a bullhorn to talk to a crowd of several hundred supporters.
But protesters say 7 p.m. came and went, some left out of fear, but a couple dozen stayed.
Among those is City Commissioner Shannon Sykes-Nehring.
She says the campers that left just couldn’t afford the fine, or feared having their children or their pets taken away if they were arrested.
However, police have yet to arrest anyone remaining in the park.
Sykes-Nehring says it the eviction notice may have ended the encampment, but it won’t end their struggle for improved services from the city.
The protest has been going on for weeks, with demonstrators pushing for better resources for the city’s homeless population.
