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The tent city which had relocated to Civic Center park after being evicted from near the Berkeley Food and Housing Project (BFHP)on Fairview at Adeline was raided again early Thursday, November 17, 2016, one day before the progressive victors in Berkeley elections will convene in the same park to create a human peace sign. 

Organizer Mike Zint was arrested along with "First They Came for the Homeless"'s communications equipment and a large quantity of belongings. None of the approximately 25 people in the group who huddled on the Post Office steps appeared to be injured, although the 5:00 am raid, which took place in the dark, shook people up. 

Jim Hynes, assistant to Berkeley's city manager, assisted city police and staff in the eviction and fencing of the southeast area of the park which had served as a brief harbor for people with nowhere to go. This 200 x 20 foot section joins the permanent fence at the Post Office, the old City Hall lawn area, the plaza near BFHP, and the underpasses at Gilman Street in a growing amount of territory literally fenced off to eliminate all physical settings people might use to stop and rest. 

Barbara Brust, a local homeless advocate, walked to City Hall after it opened and tried to find someone to speak with about the raid. The fifth floor office specialist Tony Benado and staff Yvette Gan were polite as they checked for available staff and offered Brust descriptions of how to make a complaint and suggestions of whom to contact later in the day. 

Greg Daniel of the codes and enforcement division stepped out of the elevator during this discussion and immediately raised his voice to Brust, stating that nobody without an appointment could see anyone. Brust noted aloud his abrupt, aggressive tone, but returned to the elevator and left the building. 

The group on the Post Office steps was there for only 45 minutes before postal police arrived to evict them from the steps. Mike Lee, one of the group, explained patiently to reporters that they had three demands; legal space, an end to criminalization of homelessness, and "housing that we can all afford."