The barricaded encampment of unhoused community members is shown moments before Seattle police officers cleared the area on Friday, December 18, 2020, at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle. Credit: KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer
How the Cal Anderson sweep went down â and why it s so contentious Dec 21, 2020
The warning notices went up around Cal Anderson Park last Monday: A sweep was coming.
When word got out, hundreds of protesters descended on the park. Before the pandemic, sweeps were part of unhoused life in Seattle â the city came in with outreach services, then cleared them out.
But this sweep on Capitol Hill stuck out: Kick people out of their tents one week before Christmas, in the middle of a pandemic? Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people not be displaced and moved between shelters right now.
2 slides Credit: KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer
Under threat of sweep, Seattle protesters defend houseless encampment at Cal Anderson Park By
at 5:02 pm
As Seattle police readied to clear Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning, protesters also lined the park where a tent encampment has grown over the past few months.
But the police did not sweep the camp as expected.
The city on Monday posted notices about its plan to sweep the park, which stated the park was not an authorized area for storage or shelter. The park has been officially closed for nearly six months following the creation of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP, this past summer.