Attendance at City Hall Sleepouts Remains High

The Freedom Sleepers are a coalition of unhoused and housed activists who have gathered to sleep at City Hall one night a week since July of 2015 to protest local laws that criminalize homelessness.

Many of the Freedom Sleepers are also active as volunteers with Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs, which shares food at the sleepouts and operates a "free market."

By sleeping at City Hall, the Freedom Sleepers are engaging in a civil disobedience protest that directly violates the city's camping ban, which outlaws sleeping anywhere in public between the hours of 11 pm and 8:30 am.

Despite intense pressure from the city, police, and park rangers to prevent people from sleeping at City Hall, many of the Freedom Sleepers are receiving feedback from houseless people that the sleepouts are the only place they can get a full night's sleep.

The Freedom Sleepers next sleepout is planned for this Tuesday night at Santa Cruz City Hall.

[The photos in this article were taken at the community sleepouts organized on October 18, October 25, November 1, and November 8.]


For more information about the Freedom Sleepers, see:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/freedomsleepers/

For more information about Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs, see:
http://santacruz.foodnotbombs.net/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SantaCruzFoodNotBombs/


Alex Darocy
http://alexdarocy.blogspot.com/