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RIOT police stormed the Los Angeles City Hall chambers on Tuesday evening ahead of a vote that saw the further criminalisation of homelessness in the US city.
Scores of heavily armed law enforcement officials entered the building as unarmed members of the public, including families with young children, signed up to give public comment in the debate.
Crowds chanted “house keys not handcuffs” as the riot police stood between them and city council officials who eventually left the chamber.
A dispersal order was given and police cleared the public from the building before the councillors returned.
They passed the amendment to expand the criminalisation zones in which homeless people are banned from sleeping.
Campaigners described Tuesday’s actions as “a shameful day for Los Angeles.”
The expansion will add approximately 1,900 additional sites, meaning a 376 per cent increase in exclusionary zones across the city, covering at least 88 square miles — 20 per cent of the city.
But the Services Not Sweeps organisation says that the majority of the city’s population oppose criminalisation as a way to deal with homelessness, saying it is “expensive, ineffective and inhumane.”
Los Angeles has a major housing crisis with some 49,000 people sleeping rough in the city.