AlbatrossDec 21, 2022
In #Minneapolis today, four days before Christmas, the temperature is -5F/-21C and a blizzard is expected. So today is the day when Mayor Frey and the Metro Transit Police decided to destroy an under-bridge homeless encampment and confiscate their tents and propane tanks.
All homeless resources in the city are full.
No mainstream news covered this story.
Pictures by @SWVoicesMPLS on birdsite
#homelessness #JacobFrey #ACAB #MetroTransitPolice #MerryChristmas #ThatWasSarcasm #journalism
Show threadbenjamin melançonDec 22, 2022

@Albatross I believe this was another MNDOT operation, which Frey has been denying coordination with— but also today the Quarry encampment, the only sizeable encampment on city land not already destroyed by Frey's many goons under his direct control, has been served eviction notice for *the 28th*.

I believe they are trying to make us think the cruelty is the point, to distract from the fact that neoliberal capitalism may indeed crash down if people can camp outside in the winter for free.

Show threadbenjamin melançonDec 22, 2022
Seriously though this is as @Katyrex said on twitter when posting this, directly causing deaths by exposure. Call the lines yourself. Find out how many beds there are. Temporary shelters are never a replacement for the stability of a permanent camp (let alone, y'know, actual housing) but there aren't even spaces available right as the cold is downright deadly.
Show threadCatmama 🐈Dec 22, 2022

@mlncn
There are *never* enough shelter beds, regardless of the city, time of year, or weather event. In the city I lived in a few years ago, at any given time there were only enough shelter beds for 10% of the homeless population.

@Katyrex

Show threadrabble
@Catmama @mlncn @Katyrex There are enough in New Zealand. Money is set aside to build housing and to cover hotel rooms for everybody until they've got permanent housing. It's just a matter of fiscal priorities.
Dec 22, 2022 at 10:14pmWeb
Show threadCatmama 🐈Dec 23, 2022

@rabble
Exactly! Fiscal priorities here regarding the homeless more often tend to be money for police to enforce laws criminalizing homelessness and poverty, and for construction/placement of devices to prevent the homeless from sleeping on sidewalks or under bridges. It's grotesque!

@mlncn @Katyrex