(Natural News) 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.
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.
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.
“Today, for the second time, I’ve been harassed and screamed at with obscenities walking out of city hall,” Kelly tweeted. “One of the men had a metal pipe and at least one knife. I do not feel safe, which means others don’t 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.”
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.
Austin leaders say tent city is a “protest,” which constitutes free speech.
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.
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.
“I’ve been told by the City Manager’s office and APD (Austin Police Department) that this is a protest and a free speech zone, and so, as such, they’re not moving these individuals right now,” Kelly is quoted as saying.
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