San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee was meeting at City Hall late this morning with members of Occupy SF, hours after an early-morning police action that led to the arrest of seven people near the encampment.
Lee was meeting with demonstrators, as well as various city officials, business leaders and other stakeholders to discuss the future of the encampment, which has been at Justin Herman Plaza at the foot of Market Street for several weeks.
At about 1:30 a.m. today, police dismantled an ancillary camp that had been set up on the sidewalk along the first block of Market Street, police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said.
About 15 tents were taken down, and officers arrested seven people, Esparza said.
Esparza said the tents were dismantled because they posed “a safety concern,” since the walking space on the sidewalk had been reduced from about 30 feet to six feet across because of the encampment.
Department of Public Works spokeswoman Gloria Chan said nearly 200 tents remain in Justin Herman Plaza.
Their future is being discussed at today’s meeting.
Lee said Tuesday that he had made his first trip to the encampment that morning and said he was “disappointed” about conditions at the camp. He said that if demonstrators did not abide by city requests to improve public cleanliness and reduce the size of the encampment, “then we will take action.”
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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