The Freedom Sleepers held a protest in front of the Palomar Inn in downtown Santa Cruz on December 8, where the city council was eating a celebratory dinner in honor of the appointment of the new mayor, Cynthia Matthews. A small group of protesters also entered the Inn's banquet room during the council’s meal with a sign reading “A Ban on Sleep is a Ban on Life.”

As the city council met in the banquet room, the Freedom Sleepers held a protest on the sidewalk with free coffee, soup, and PB&J sandwiches. They set up signs, handed out flyers advertising an upcoming event at the Resource Center for Non-Violence, chanted, and sang with busking musicians that had set up right next door.

Later that evening the Freedom Sleepers held their twenty-second sleepout at Santa Cruz city hall. Police raids have been the norm for the majority of the sleepouts, with SCPD officers ticketing and sometimes arresting demonstrators for their participation. No one was arrested or cited at the December 8 sleepout, but a group of security guards stood watch over, and patrolled, the city hall courtyard all night long. Despite the heavy security presence, a small group of sleepers have made it through the night for every one of the protests since July 4. Protesters have mostly slept on the sidewalk, but some also take shelter in the landscaping area of the public library.

Read More with Photos | Freedom Sleepers | See Also: Community Sleepout #22 | Santa Cruz Police Block Individuals Documenting Arrest at Freedom Sleepers Protest | Police make one arrest at Freedom Sleepers protest #20, confiscate belongings | Temperatures drop at the 17th Freedom Sleepers Community Sleepout

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