🦄 COVID-19

Minneapolis Park Police Displace Sanctuary Encampment

Minneapolis, MN – On Monday, July 20, dozens of houseless people were displaced and about 20 people were arrested as law enforcement executed an eviction of the eastern portion of a sanctuary tent encampment in Powderhorn Park.
After the raid, Unicorn Riot spoke to community…

🦄 Investigative, Police

Denver Police Cash In on Houseless Encampment Clean-Ups

Denver, CO – For nearly eight years Denver police officers, public works employees, park rangers, and occasionally inmates have been carrying out and enforcing the Unauthorized Camping Ordinance (camping ban) signed into law by Mayor Michael Hancock during his first term in 2012. When investigating…

🦄 Social Control

Advocates Demand Denver Protect Rights of People Without Homes

Denver, CO – In the afternoon of October 21, 2019, local advocacy group Denver Homeless Out Loud (DHOL), along with other social justice and human rights groups, held a rally outside City Hall to continue to demand that the city government take action in support…

🦄 Investigative

Denver Paid Clean-Up Company $400,000 to Help in Houseless Sweeps

Denver, CO – For at least two years, the city of Denver has been contracting Custom Environmental Services, Inc. (CES) to assist in clearing out camps of people without housing. Unicorn Riot filed Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests and received about 50 invoices sent…

🦄 Police, Social Control

Denver Police, City Workers Throw Away Belongings Amid Lawsuit

Denver, CO – On July 9 and 12, 2018, Denver Homeless Out Loud (DHOL), an advocacy group for people without housing, published two videos documenting Denver police and city workers seizing people’s belongings and throwing them away; also known as “sweeps.”
These ongoing sweeps continue…