Originally published November 4, 2015
An apparently coordinated campaign of threatened arrests, citations and forced removals hit the homeless in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood on Sunday, with police falsely citing City ordinances to give a legal fig leaf to their illegal actions.
Uptown, with its lakefront location and proximity to the city center, has long been a target of gentrifying developers, aided by Alderman James Cappleman, who has presided over the destruction of over 1000 units of low income housing in the ward — more than the entire rest of the city combined.
The destruction of low income housing, combined with the poor condition and limited capacity of local shelters, has led many homeless to sleep in the park.
This video shows Chicago police blatantly distorting the law to illegally intimidate the homeless into moving out of the area. For decades the City has sought to impose anti-loitering laws in form or another, only to have them repeatedly struck down by the courts. These ordinances have historically targeted Blacks, Latinos and the poor for harassment, and courts have repeatedly found that they violate the 1st Amendment right to assemble.
Watch a short video of the Nov. 1st confrontation here:
https://www.facebook.com/andy.thayer1/videos/10207197913163358