Duluth City Hall Encampment Cleared Out and Cleaned Up

Duluth officials are working on cleaning up the area surrounding the encampment outside of City Hall after clearing it out earlier this week.

According to a Northern News Now report, the City’s Life Safety team, Police Department, and community partners removed the people and items remaining in the encampment on Wednesday. Officials had advised members of the encampment to leave by Tuesday after the city council passed new ordinances that target camping on city property.

Many local residents spoke against the ordinance changes at City Council meetings in recent weeks. Critics argued that the ordinances targeted the unhoused population, while city officials argued that the ordinances would not be enforced if there was no available shelter space. The ordinances would have originally made camping on city property worthy of a misdemeanor, but were amended to make it only worthy of a fine after community pushback.

The encampment had been occupying the space outside of Duluth City Hall since May. It originally began as a protest against the ongoing war in Gaza, but eventually grew to include members of the unhoused population. Two people were arrested for obstruction when the encampment was cleared out this week.

Since clearing out the encampment, city officials say their crews have been finding needles in the garbage cans around the area as well as dirty blankets, sheets and buckets full of waste. According to a Fox 21 report, the city was able to reopen the Priley Foundation on Thursday. Crews are still working to clean up the grassy area, which remains off limits for the time being.