More than 60 people gathered at Santa Cruz City Hall on August 18 for the latest in a series of community campouts organized to protest local laws that ban sleeping in public. It was the sixth held at City Hall since July, and was attended by approximately twice as many sleepers as the previous campouts.

At the August 11 sleepout, police issued 24-hour stay away orders to at least two of those present, and a journalist who has been documenting the whole series of protests was arrested and taken to jail. The Santa Cruz Police Department has attempted to clear City Hall during most of the sleepouts by warning and/or citing those found in the courtyard, which is closed to the public after hours. After the police leave, however, most of the participants generally go back to sleep and stay the night.

Read More: Attendance Doubles at Sixth City Hall Sleepout | Santa Cruz Police Arrest Journalist and Issue Stay Away Orders at Community Sleepout #5 | Half a dozen cited, photographer arrested at Freedom Sleepers Protest | Arrest of Citizen Journalist for resisting arrest leaves questions of Police Intimidation | Police disrupt sleeping-ban protest, issue citations and make 1 arrest

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