East Village Standoff Spurred By Homeless Encampment Takedown

EAST VILLAGE, NY — Tensions mounted Wednesday on an East Village block dubbed "Anarchy Row" as police eventually cleared an encampment of four tents after a seven-hour standoff and multiple arrests.

The confrontation ensued after police, sanitation and outreach workers arrived at East Ninth Street and Avenue B Wednesday morning to remove tents as part of Mayor Eric Adams' controversial crackdown.

Gothamist reporter Gwynne Hogan live-tweeted the day's events and reported that six activists were arrested, along with the leader of the protest, John Grima, who refused to leave his tent.

Police could not immediately confirm those arrest numbers.

Grima was the last person holding out by Wednesday afternoon, when several officers collapsed Grima's tent around him and zip-tied him, Hogan reported.

The altercation came after hours of police trying to convince those living on the street to leave voluntarily.

The fight to save the curbside homes began Tuesday when the NYPD distributed flyers in the area telling people living on the street to move along.

Several residents had been removed last week, but quickly returned to Ninth Street between Avenue B to C, which locals have dubbed "anarchy row."

"I feel safer here than in my Safe Haven," a young person living on the street told Protest_NYC. "This is a safe haven. Shelters are trash."

The street was closed off Wednesday to traffic, before eventually reopening.

A video posted by Hogan shows an NYPD officer telling a person living on the East Village block that they can sleep on the street, but not in a tent.

Another man who uses a walker and lives on the street told Hogan that he's not moving for a simple reason; "I can't move."

By around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the encampment was cleared.