Encampment Arrestees Head To Court

“When the city evicts our unhoused neighbors from the train station and the Green, they call it a cleanup,” arrested homelessness activist Adam Nussbaum said during a protest on the front steps of the downtown courthouse. ​“And we ask, clean for who? We all know to them, ​‘clean’ means dead.”

Nussbaum put forward that critique Thursday morning during a rally outside the state courthouse at 121 Elm St. 

The protest took place soon before Nussbaum and six other Unhoused Activists Community Team (U‑ACT) members had their first courtroom hearings on misdemeanor charges stemming from their arrests by city police earlier this week for their participation in an encampment-turned-occupation on the Upper Green.

Each of the seven encampment arrestees — Nussbaum, Mark Colville, Billy Bromage, Alexis Terry, Sean Gargamelli-McCreight, Zara Escobar, and Shannon Carter — appeared briefly before state Superior Court Judge Frank Iannotti Thursday alongside lawyer Greta LaFleur. Each had their cases continued until Dec. 4.

All seven have been charged with disorderly conduct and first-degree criminal trespassing. Five of the seven have also been charged with resisting arrest. 

As Mayor Justin Elicker pointed out in a separate interview Thursday, the tents that were cleared from the Green on Monday were not like a usual encampment, where people had been living in the tents for some time. He said the tents instead were set up as an act of direct civil disobedience to police requests. Activists had been gathering at that same site for roughly two weeks to distribute food and other aid to the homeless as part of a broader protest against encampment sweeps and in support of setting aside land for people with nowhere else to go.

Before Thursday’s short procedural courtroom appearances, the arrestees joined fellow homelessness activists, Yale students, and pro-Palestine protesters on 121 Elm St.‘s front steps. (The group happened to be in court on the same day that dozens of Yalies who had been arrested for a pro-Palestine encampment in Beinecke Plaza last April had their latest hearings in court, too.)

Around the speakers, students gathered wearing keffiyehs and holding posters proclaiming ​“FROM NEW HAVEN TO PALESTINE” and ​“SAFE HOUSING NOW.” One poster read: ​“CALL MAYOR’S OFFICE.” Written underneath Mayor Justin Elicker’s phone number were talking points calling to allow unhoused individuals to sleep in tents for safety, to stop encampment sweeps, and to designate a space in the city where unhoused people can stay without being arrested.

Adam Nussbaum stated that the city does not want people ​“forming communities of mutual support on the streets,” forcing unhoused people to ​“disappear.” He then listed demands for increased services for unhoused people, such as low-income housing, affordable food and health care, free public restrooms, lockers, and showers. 

Zara Escobar pointed to Yale’s $40 billion endowment, noting that a ​“tiny fraction” of which could build many more units of affordable housing. 

Sean Gargamelli-McCreight criticized the city for pouring money into shelters that, according to him, do not meet the needs of unhoused individuals.

“Justin Elicker claims again and again to have done more for unhoused people than any other mayor in Connecticut,” Gargamelli-McCreight said. ​“He pats himself and his cronies on the back for buying a hotel and opening a shelter on the furthest outskirts of the city, cut off by one of our busiest and most dangerous highways.”

In response to these statements, during a separate interview, Mayor Elicker pointed to the $1.5 million of the city’s general fund which has been allocated for unhoused services. He then pointed to his efforts in opening up shelters that operate around the clock or allow partners and pets, including the 55-room hotel-turned-shelter on Foxon Boulevard and a 645 Grand Ave. shelter opening next month. 

Elicker said that those shelters were opened after listening to activists who voiced concerns that congregate shelters were insufficient.

“It’s unfortunate that [U‑ACT] continues to push a narrative that the city does not care about individuals that are experiencing homelessness, because our team has a very compassionate approach to helping support the most vulnerable,” Elicker said. ​“The narrative is not accurate and not helpful. And what’s concerning to me is that not only are they pushing a narrative publicly that’s not accurate and not helpful, but they have been discouraging people from accepting city resources that really need them.”

Elicker then noted that encampments create dangerous situations, citing cleanliness issues with human excrement at the most recent encampment on the Green as well as the use of propane tanks and ​“large structures” — tables. 

But for the arrestees and other unhoused individuals, the encampment was a site of community and gathering. Alexis Terry emphasized that the encampment space was one in which her ​“mental and physical well being improv[ed].” On the Green, underneath the trees, Terry was able to rest, share meals, gather, and ​“live” in community with other unhoused people.

“Maybe the mayor and other passersby are a little uncomfortable by seeing this type of community,” Terry said. ​“But we’re here to say your discomfort is not a justification for our extermination.” 

Shannon Carter said that during the encampment sweeps on Saturday and Monday, two community members with pre-existing health conditions were hospitalized due to extreme stress levels.

Terry also clarified that the human excrement should not be entirely attributed to the encampment, as some of it existed prior to the occupation. Carter said that they had to shoo away ​“drunk Yale students” from peeing near the occupation on Saturday night.

Looking forward, U‑ACT organizer and tiny homes advocate Mark Colville said that for now, the occupation will stay on the Green until the city changes its mind about their demands.

Elicker clarified that having a public space for an encampment is not a policy the city would support.