Cops slash tents of homeless, St. Petersburg, FL, Jan. 22, 2007
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More on the homeless struggle in St. Petersburg
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Pinellas
Hope is the city of St. Petersburg's latest attempt to "resolve" the
homeless crisis. But, as with their other efforts regarding this issue,
it appears that all they really want to do is rid the city of homeless
people. And this time they are putting $1.3 million into another flawed
and disingenuous plan. Where is all the money going? If you'd like to help bring attention to this situation, please contact Bruce@stpeteforpeace.org, or call 727-278-1547. To read more about the Pinellas Hope situation, please go here and here. |
Picture blog of Nov. 27 vigil outside of Republican presidential debate site
Nov 27, 2007
The city of St.
Petersburg appears to be trying to hide the local homelessness issue
from the CNN Republican presidential candidate debate.
On Monday, barricades were erected at the rally site and homeless
people and homeless supporters were threatened with arrest if they did
not move from the public area across from the Mahaffey theater. Leading
up to the 4-day rally it was understood by event organizers that the
public area utilized for the sleepout and associated demonstration
would remain just that - public.
In response to the question of moving the demonstrators off of the agreed upon public property three days before the debate, St.
Pete Police Chief Chuck Harmon said “If anybody’s causing a
confrontation it’s certainly not the police department, but we’ve got a job to do and we’re going to do that". And St.
Pete Mayor Rick Baker said “To me if reflects the fact that
we’re in America, we’re a free country the ability of
people to protest is a great thing.”
Banners were ordered to be removed from the public area, but before the
order came, the banners were quickly re-positioned to drape over the
barricades:
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Nov 27, 2007- City brings bulldozer to homeless in front of St. Vincent's (Video part 1, part 2)
Nov 27- Homeless protesters forced to move across from Mahaffey
Tampa Bay's 10 coverage (read, watch)
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Regardless of the harassment and suppression of free speech by the
city, the rally in support of the homeless has been very successful.
The events started on Sunday with a meal of donated food and an
interdenominational prayer service. A hunger strike and sleepout
followed, and continued through Monday.
Please call Rev. Bruce Wright at 727-278-1547 if you have any questions.
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To read more of the stuggle, including the earlier Tent City tent slashings, please click here
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E-mail: info@stpeteforpeace.org
