Police, protesters clash as St. Paul begins clearing Pig’s Eye encampment 

Officials and outreach teams step in as sweep begins

State Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-District 66A, and St. Paul Ward 5 Council Member Hwa Jeong Kim, along with outreach workers from African American Survivor Services (AASS), went tent to tent early Wednesday offering unhoused residents rides out of Pig’s Eye encampment during phase one of Mayor Kaohly Her’s sweep.

Most residents are moving to the Randolph Avenue encampment. The city plans to sweep that site and the L’Orient Street encampment next.

Volunteer Vanessa Rojas rode shotgun as African American Survivor Services Executive Director Ivan Nelson drove a bus to 81 N. Fish Hatchery Rd. on Aug. 5. They arrived at Pig’s Eye to find protest marshals behind a barricade of pallets and skids.

At first, St. Paul police declined to let volunteers transport residents and their belongings out of Pig’s Eye until Rep. Finke confronted officers. Kim said she struck a deal with Assistant Mayor Erica Schumacher to allow volunteers to queue residents through the parking lot rather than have the city bring in heavy equipment, with an exception for emergency vehicles.

Barricades, pushes, and escalating conflict

Tensions escalated when Minneapolis officials in safety vests arrived unannounced, sparking fears they were there to clear the way for bulldozers. “Leave our neighbors alone,” said Derek Torstenson. One woman began a chant, “Who keeps us safe?” and protesters answered, “We keep us safe.” “You are just barging over us,” another said.

One city employee pushed a protester. “Whoa, why are you pushing me? Sir, why are you pushing me?” the protester said. An officer laughed: “Oh, that’s great… tell them to keep hands off.” “You just shoved somebody,” a marshal said. “We are not going to tolerate anybody forcing their way into this space right now,” one woman said. “We are keeping ourselves and the residents safe.”

St. Paul spokesperson Lisa Hiebert later said the city’s goal “has been to approach everyone, including residents, volunteers, members of the media and protesters, with respect, dignity and compassion.”

A video captured by the Spokesman-Recorder shows the incident at the encampment site.

Hiebert added that “as an immediate safety precaution, the employee was removed from the site” and “is being incorrectly identified as an employee of the Saint Paul Fire Department.” The city “is reviewing the incident and gathering all available information.”

The shelter capacity catch-22

Kim said the city lacks a concrete plan to house everyone being displaced. “My understanding is that the administration believes that their main role is enforcement,” she said. “Currently, based on so many reasons, there are not enough beds.”

Rojas, who does peer support work at AASS, said the 28-day notice to vacate should have been extended. “The beds are full. The beds are full,” she said. “If the encampment’s a problem, then give people time so we can cultivate and work as a community to develop resources. There was no plan in place, and 28 days is not sufficient.”

Rojas and Nelson had bused four couples out the previous Monday. Unhoused couples face a catch-22, she said, since shelters rarely accept partners together or people with pets.

“If you were told to leave your spouse or your significant other and separate from them, that would be tough for any of us,” Rojas said. “But then you have this deep trauma bond as well that we’re dealing with. So splitting them up is almost impossible.”

Mayor Her stayed inside a mobile command center across the tracks from the camp’s west exit. Assistant Mayor Cedrick Baker walked the encampment but wasn’t initially available to reporters.

“As of right now, we have a lot of space available,” Baker said at a press conference moved off-site. “I just want people to understand that we can’t make people say yes, but those that are saying yes, we have the space for you.”

Stolen IDs and paperwork roadblocks

Missing identification compounds the problem, Rojas said: without an ID, Social Security card or birth certificate, residents lose out on free government-issued cellphones, food stamps and Medicaid.

“Now you just displace them,” Rojas said. “So any caseworkers that they had, you’ve just quashed all that work.”

Mike, who said his wallet was stolen five times and had to reorder his ID, has called Pig’s Eye home for two years. “GRH [Group Residential Housing] is very hard to get,” he said.

He grew emotional describing the difficulty of keeping a mailing address, with no transportation to charities that let residents list one. The post office said it would take 14 business days for a new state ID, his fifth. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “You know what I long for? The days when I can get back to work.”

“There can’t be evictions on stolen land”

Ramsey County said more than 1,400 single adults are on a priority waiting list for permanent housing. Kim said she hopes the clearing pushes the council toward new legislation.

“We’re decimating people’s belongings. We’re decimating their identities that are tied to this place,” Kim said. “There can’t be evictions on stolen land, and our humanity is greater than this action.

After everything that we went through with Operation Metro Surge, it is unconscionable that this is the actions of the city.”

Finke said she wanted to coordinate a safe way for residents to take their belongings before police cleared the camp. “There’s nothing good coming out of this,” she said.

John Tolo, executive director of SafeCity Community Outreach Program, disagreed with a majority of marshals and protesters when he moved to clear the barricade for police. Tensions boiled again when Tolo started pulling skids from the barrier. He was escorted off the encampment.

Clint Combs is a freelance journalist and contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. He welcomes reader responses at combs0284@gmail.com.