{"id":169131,"date":"2021-05-31T13:35:56","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T17:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/z3news.com\/w\/?p=169131"},"modified":"2021-08-18T14:00:02","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T18:00:02","slug":"texas-locals-create-autonomous-zone-at-austin-city-hall-patrol-grounds-with-machetes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/z3news.com\/w\/texas-locals-create-autonomous-zone-at-austin-city-hall-patrol-grounds-with-machetes\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas locals create “autonomous zone” at Austin City Hall, patrol grounds with machetes"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Natural News<\/a>) A new CHAZ-like tent city has sprung up<\/a> at Austin City Hall in Texas, and city councilwoman Mackenzie Kelly wants it to be removed.<\/p>\n

According to reports, a group of locals has set up shop outside the government facility in protest of a recent vote in which Austinites decided to reinstate a local ban prohibiting camping on public land.<\/p>\n

Some area homeless residents are upset about the new rule, so they have brought their machetes and other weapons to Austin City Hall, where they patrol the grounds day and night.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, for the second time, I\u2019ve been harassed and screamed at with obscenities walking out of city hall,\u201d Kelly tweeted.\u00a0\u201cOne of the men had a metal pipe and at least one knife. I do not feel safe, which means others don\u2019t feel safe either. This really needs to be enforced in some way and city leadership is not doing what it needs to protect [sic] its residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly wants other locals who oppose the CHAZ to email and call the city council to encourage enforcement of the new rule, which aims to prevent public lands from being occupied by homeless and other vagrants.<\/p>\n

Austin leaders say tent city is a \u201cprotest,\u201d which constitutes free speech.<\/p>\n

The reason the tent city has not yet been removed is because those in positions of power above Kelly say that it constitutes a protest, which is protected under the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

While homeless people have long roamed the streets of Austin without issue, Kelly is incensed over the fact that they have now come to her workplace to harass her and other councilmembers as they go in and out of the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told by the City Manager\u2019s office and APD (Austin Police Department) that this is a protest and a free speech zone, and so, as such, they\u2019re not moving these individuals right now,\u201d Kelly is quoted as saying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Natural News)
\n A new CHAZ-like tent city has sprung up at Austin City Hall in Texas, and city councilwoman Mackenzie Kelly wants it to be removed.
\nAccording to reports, a group of locals has set up shop outside the government facility in protest of a recent vote in which Austinites decided to reinstate a local ban prohibiting camping on public land.
\nSome area homeless residents are upset about the new rule, so they have brought their machetes and other weapons to Austin City Hall, where they patrol the grounds day and night.
\n\u201cToday, for the second time, I\u2019ve been harassed and screamed at with obscenities walking out of city hall,\u201d Kelly tweeted.\u00a0\u201cOne of the men had a metal pipe and at least one knife. I do not feel safe, which means others don\u2019t feel safe either. This really needs to be enforced in some way and city leadership is not doing what it needs to protect [sic] its residents.\u201d
\nKelly wants other locals who oppose the CHAZ to email and call the city council to encourage enforcement of the new rule, which aims to prevent public lands from being occupied by homeless and other vagrants.
\nAustin leaders say tent city is a \u201cprotest,\u201d which constitutes free speech
\nThe reason the tent city has not yet been removed is because those in positions of power above Kelly say that it constitutes a protest, which is protected under the First Amendment.
\nWhile homeless people have long roamed the streets of Austin without issue, Kelly is incensed over the fact that they have now come to her workplace to harass her and other councilmembers as they go in and out of the building.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve been told by the City Manager\u2019s office and APD (Austin Police Department) that this is a protest and a free speech zone, and so, as such, they\u2019re not moving these individuals right now,\u201d Kelly is quoted as saying.
\nTrisha English, one of the women participating in the \u201cprotest\u201d told local news outlet KXAN that she and the others who are camping outside city hall have formed their own \u201csecurity detail.\u201d
\n\u201cWe have a whole security team here,\u201d English said, revealing that she and others work different shifts patrolling the area 24 hours a day.
\n\u201cI secure this camp to make sure everybody\u2019s okay and make sure things do not get deescalated [sic] to the point where they have to call APD because APD is completely corrupted,\u201d she added, noting that she wears a bulletproof vest when it is her turn to patrol.
\nWhile English was speaking to the news crew, another man brandishing a machete walked up and asked her if she was okay with the KXAN news crew being present there. This was his way of looking out for the campers.
\nIn the event that police come to harass English and her friends, she says that they are ready and willing to fight back if necessary.
\n\u201cYou know what I\u2019m gonna do? I\u2019m gonna fight back,\u201d English said. \u201cIf I\u2019ve got to kill a cop before they kill me, you know damn well I\u2019m gonna kill a cop.\u201d
\nMayor Steve Adler says he will not do anything about the \u201cautonomous zone\u201d because, to him, it constitutes a \u201cprotest.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Texas legislature recently passed a new law that penalizes cities that defund police, as Austin did in August 2020 when it gutted the police budget by about one-third,\u201d writes Bryan Preston for PJ Media.
\n\u201cThat law allows people who live in areas annexed by such cities to secede from them.\u201d
\nMore related news stories about the growing divide between Americans can be found at Collapse.news.
\nSources for this article include:
\nThePostMillennial.com
\nNaturalNews.com
\nPJMedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":675,"featured_media":169133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[206,462],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[927],"class_list":["post-169131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-global-governance-beast-system","category-texas","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t