Tensions flare as health department clears homeless encampments in Salt Lake City
“These are people’s only homes,” said an advocate, who worried that the unsheltered individuals will have nowhere to go.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) A Salt Lake City Police officer holds up police tape for two men leaving the Rio Grande area with their belongings, Dec. 10, 2020.
| Updated: Dec. 13, 2020, 4:10 a.m.
Tensions flared between protesters and police in downtown Salt Lake City on Thursday as dozens of people experiencing homelessness were forced to leave the camps where they were living.
A front loader was used at one point to move discarded clothing into a dump truck. One couple at 600 West and 300 South, who declined to talk to The Salt Lake Tribune, struggled as they attempted to pile their things onto an overfilled shopping cart. A box on top of their belongings and a green tarp fell to the ground as they moved.