Three arrested during protest for homeless rights

Author: 
Windy City Times

Gay Liberation Network co-founder Andy Thayer, Northside Action for Justice member Marc Kaplan and Uptown Tent City organizer Ryne Poelker were arrested at the Uptown offices of 34th ward Ald. James Cappleman Oct. 3.
They were charged with criminal trespassing and taken in a paddy wagon to the precinct at Belmont and Western. .

Thayer told Windy City Times that they were released from custody around midnight.

He added that they were treated well but "it helps that we were white."

Thayer, Poelker and Kaplan had organized a march for homeless rights that evening attended by more than 150 people.

Until the arrest, the scene at Cappleman's office was very much the same as it was almost a year ago when, on Nov. 11, 2015, Thayer and protestors confronted the alderman about the lack of homeless housing and amenities in Uptown and Chicago Police Department (CPD) regular sweeps of Uptown's Cricket Hill Park and the tents underneath the viaduct at Wilson and Lakeshore Drive.

Cappleman had seemed unmoved by the demonstrator's frustration before asking them to leave and closing the office.

According to Thayer, one year later, the plight of Uptown's homeless has become worse.

"Cappleman has dramatically escalated his activities from a year ago by pushing the homeless out of public spaces, the now weekly cleanings and the threat to confiscate tents," Thayer told Windy City Times after he was released from custody. "It's hard to believe that the ward could get any more anti-homeless, anti-poor and anti-diversity thank it was before. That's what has people so angry."

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/GLN-founder-arrested-during-protest-for-homeless-rights/56693.html

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