Activists Protest And Confront LAPD Evicting Criminal Squatters From Homes They Have No Right To Be In

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – California Highway Patrol officers were confronted by dozens of protesters Wednesday night as they evicted squatters from vacant homes in the East Los Angeles neighborhood of El Sereno.

The CHP officers were evicting squatters from vacant homes owned by Caltrans in the area of Sheffield Avenue and Poplar Boulevard when they were confronted by the activists.

Caltrans had purchased the homes in order to demolish them and expand the 710 Freeway. However, the project fell through in 2018, and the homes still sit empty.

At one point, activists from the group “Reclaiming Our Homes” blocked the streets in an apparent effort to keep the officers from driving away. An unlawful assembly was declared by CHP at around 8:45 p.m.

“Vacant homes along the State Route 710 that were broken into are unsafe and uninhabitable for occupants,” Caltrans spokesperson Matt Rocco told CBSLA in an email. “As such, Caltrans requested the CHP remove trespassers so that the properties can be re-secured and boarded up.”

Neighbors told CBSLA that most of the people moved into the homes at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and have riddled the neighborhood with crime.