Officers Clear More Homeless People from Sites Around Washington
The Metropolitan Police Department, now under federal oversight, swept through at least three encampments on Friday morning, according to Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center and people who said they observed the police actions.
Officers were said to have thrown tents, sleeping bags and other belongings in the trash, and organizations that work with the homeless were bracing for more sweeps Friday afternoon and evening. Police began targeting the camps late Thursday.
In some cases, the police apparently removed people despite city health department notices allowing them to remain for several more days. Several homeless people in Washington Circle had the notices attached to tents since Thursday morning.
At Washington Circle, near the George Washington University Hospital, Meghann Abraham, who has lived in a tent there for months, said officers took away her shelter. The night before, she had fended off a similar effort by federal agents by showing them a notice from the city giving her until Monday to leave.
This time, the officers scoffed at the notice, she said.
Nearby, David Barnes returned to find his tent, which was also in the park space at Washington Circle, gone. He said officers had thrown his belongings in the trash, again.
'Trump and his presidency has taken away two — not one, two — of my tents,' Mr. Barnes said.
Still, he added, he voted for Mr. Trump before and would do so again, because of the president's desire to keep Washington clean and beautiful.
Elsewhere, though, the crackdown on the homeless and the effort to take over the local police was spurring public pushback.
Just after noon on Friday, a modest crowd gathered outside the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters at Judiciary Square. They carried signs reading: 'We do not consent' and 'Resist!'
Aishvarya Kavi, Campbell Robertson and Alyce McFadden contributed reporting.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Gardener who tended to £200,000 cannabis factory was caught when police found a set of keys
A gardener who came to the UK illegally in order to make money was found to be tending to a cannabis factory with plants worth up to £200,000. There were four growing rooms in a house which contained more than 400 plants. Blloshmi Albi, 33, was stopped by a police officer while he was travelling as a passenger in a car on February 2 in Cardiff. He was searched and was found in possession of a mobile phone and a set of keys. A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday heard the keys belonged to a house in Heathfield Place, Cathays, and the phone contained images of a cannabis factory. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter. READ MORE: Town to lose pub that's been there for centuries READ MORE: Couple hoping to open restaurant told they can't offer takeaway service The property was searched and the whole house had been given over to the production of cannabis. A total of 94 mother plants were discovered in four growing rooms, and there were 330 saplings in a nursery area. Prosecutor James Evans said there was evidence of an earlier crop which had already been grown. The plants found in the address were found to have an upper value of £200,000. Albi, of no fixed abode, later pleaded guilty to cannabis production. The court heard he was of previous good character. In mitigation, the court heard the defendant had spent 91 days on remand in custody. It was said he had entered the country illegally in order to "make money" and became involved in the enterprise as a gardener. Sentencing, Judge Carl Harrison described the cannabis factory as a "sophisticated commercial set up". Albi was sentenced to eight months imprisonment. The Home Office will decide whether the defendant will be deported following the end of his sentence.
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump produced a made-for-TV summit - but Putin seemed to be the one pulling the strings
Donald Trump landed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson with the aspiration of departing a few hours later hailed as a peacemaker and a deal broker. Instead, he returns to Washington having let an international pariah back in from the cold and seemingly received precious little in return. If pitched up on the tarmac of many of the world's airports, he could, in theory, be immediately handcuffed. This, after all, is a man for alleged war crimes, including for the alleged abduction of Ukrainian children. Instead, the red carpet was, quite literally, rolled out for him in Anchorage.A flypast was arranged, featuring F-35 fighter jets, the very planes that are regularly scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft operating off the coast of Alaska. Various military members lined up to salute him. Then came the most surprising moment of all. Alongside , Putin climbed into the Beast, the US President's heavily armoured limousine. A dictator, who invaded a sovereign nation three and a half years ago and has been in isolation ever since, riding alongside the most powerful man in the world on a US military base. No wonder he was grinning in the back seat. In the news conference afterwards, Putin was invited to speak before Trump and talked of greeting him on arrival, referring to him as a "dear neighbour". You would be forgiven for thinking this was a summit on Putin's home turf and not the other way round. There was talk of an agreement, but no detail at all on what was agreed. There was no mention of any follow-up meeting with Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as had been promised. And, there was not a word on the issue at the heart of the matter: is the producer of his own presidency, and this summit was carefully choreographed, made for TV, even if it was thrown together at short notice. But it was Putin who seemed to be pulling the strings. Journalists shouted questions at him about whether he had underestimated Ukraine, and about the killing of civilians. But he threw a deaf ear. And in his presence, Trump - who loves to talk so much - kept schtum, too. Read more: There was a mismatch in their delegations, too. Putin was joined in the bilat by his grizzled and chiselled foreign secretary, Sergey Lavrov, a veteran of these events, and a wily negotiator. Trump sat alongside his old golfing pal Steve Witkoff, a real estate agent who is now Trump's peace envoy, trying to resolve the conflicts in Ukraine and in Gaza. Witkoff's repeated visits to Moscow in recent months led to this summit. Some were left wondering whether he had miscalculated how much Putin was willing to shift on his maximalist goals in Ukraine. Many foreign policy experts believe Witkoff is too naive for the job and this meeting won't have persuaded them Kremlin team, as ever, had done their homework. They know that Trump responds to flattery. And flatter him, Putin did. One of Trump's most consistent lines is that he would never have invaded Ukraine if Trump were president. Putin gave him a PR boost by suggesting that it was an accurate sentiment. He also, Trump says, agreed with him that he would have won the 2020 election. In the lead-up to the meeting, Trump promised "severe consequences" for Russia if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire. There is no suggestion that he did. Yet Trump appeared on Fox News and talked admiringly of him, claiming Putin "spoke very sincerely", with Trump saying he believed the Russian President genuinely had a desire to end the war in Ukraine. The fact that Putin started the war and continues his onslaught in Ukraine, seemingly overlooked. Trump applauded Putin on his arrival in Alaska and the Russian President must have been patting himself on the back on the way out.
CBS News
26 minutes ago
- CBS News
Mule Creek inmate charged with wife's murder during conjugal visit
An inmate serving life in prison has now been formally charged with his wife's murder during a conjugal visit last year at Mule Creek State Prison. David Brinson is accused of strangling his wife, Stephanie Dowells, at the Amador County prison. This was the second death, we'd later learn, of a visitor during a conjugal visit at the same facility just months apart. Both families are partnering up for answers. "It has taken a long time, and nobody likes that, especially a family, to make them suffer even more. But now that he has been charged with a murder, there's some sense of justice," said Michael Oppenheimer, the attorney representing the families of Dowells and Tania Thomas. "There's no way to bring her back, but at least the state finally did the right thing in charging him with murder." Oppenheimer said the family knows that even with this murder charge, there's still a long way to go. Just last month, the families of both women filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, claiming the prison didn't have enough safety protocols in place to protect them. The lawsuit claims the prison's failure to supervise these visits shows a dangerous disregard for the safety of these women, calling for urgent changes to be made.
