One year ago this week, CD 13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell sent a veritable battalion of police officers to violently displace hundreds of unhoused residents from Echo Park Lake. Armed to the teeth with “less-lethal” rifles and batons, police fired their weapons into crowds, swung their clubs at attendees, and arrested almost 200 protesters and journalists. When the dust settled, the unhoused community that had established itself over the course of more than a year was razed to the ground. O’Farrell was elated, calling the effort a “success“.
A new report put out by the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy shows a different story. Of the 209 unhoused residents that O’Farrell claimed were placed in ‘transitional shelter’, only 17 had entered into long-term housing. That’s a success rate of 8%.
The photos below are a look into the raid. They chronicle the two-day climax of a systematic campaign against the safety and dignity of our unhoused neighbors. That campaign is ongoing and has, since the eviction, seen the passage of legislation like Municipal Code 41.18 which criminalizes sitting, lying, or sleeping on streets and sidewalks.
