Woman Occupying Tent At City Hall Cited And Removed By Police

Manchester, NH - Manchester Police responded to the area outside of City Hall on Elm Street Monday for a person who had set up a tent.

Police from the community policing division interacted with the woman who could be saying she was not going to remove the tent and refused to leave. Officer Matthew Mara who works on homeless outreach was at the scene assisting the other officers.

Additional Manchester Police Officers arrived at the scene including a Manchester Police Lieutenant and Sergeant.

The woman was asked several times and told that the area has an ordinance for no camping and if she didn’t remove the tent she would be given a citation.

After about one hour a citation was written and the woman again was told to remove the tent and her belongings. She appeared to be live-streaming the interactions to social media and continued to refuse to leave.

Manchester Police advised her that if she did not leave she would face arrest, and repeated that several times in the interactions with her.

After about 30 minutes she packed up her belongings and moved to a park bench in front of city hall.

Manchester Information reached out to Manchester Police to find out what she was cited for. MPD Spokesperson Heather Hamel said it was a violation of a camping ordinance.

Follow-up is being done to find out what the RSA is, and if it only applies to City Hall or to other areas in the city.

The tent is one of many structures that have been set up around Downtown Manchester and is part of the continual issue businesses and citizens have been criticizing the city for not removing.

©Jeffrey Hastings www.manchesterinformation.com