Arrests Made While City of Duluth Clears City Hall Encampment

The City of Duluth took action on the encampment that popped up at City Hall about 3 months ago.

A 7-day deadline was given to clear the camp on July 30th, that deadline end last night and this morning Duluth Police along with other city officials and workers were at the encampment working on clearing the area.

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Dozens of tents, chairs and garbage littered the site and workers were working on filling onsite dumpsters while Duluth Police surrounded the site providing security for the cleanup operation.

The encampment was originally started as a protest to the war happening in Israel, and it evolved into a bigger discussion about homelessness in the area.

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The encampment grew in size rapidly, with at least a dozen tents and other makeshift structures set up. The area was also vandalized, and garbage and other sanitary issues started to become a problem the city had to deal with.

WDIO is reporting that two people were arrested during the removal of the encampment on charges of obstruction. Officials from Human Development Center’s Community Crisis Response Team, Downtown Duluth Outreach, DPD’s Behavioral Health Unit, and St. Louis County were also on site.

Priley Circle, the area where the camp was set up, will remain closed to the public for an undetermined amount of time while the city does restoration and maintenance on the site.