MADISON, Wis. – A protest encampment blocking off a Madison intersection for nearly two weeks is cleared for traffic once again.
But those occupying the site at Willy and Baldwin Streets where police last month shot and killed 38-year-old Corey Ruiz did not leave quietly.
Police made at least 10 arrests as protestors hurled rocks and lit multiple fires near the encampment that formed in the street in the days following Ruiz’s death. At least one protester was injured and taken to a hospital, while a Madison Fire Department said one city employee experienced a “medical event” but declined to elaborate.
The clear-out order came after Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway had for days called for a peaceful end to the encampment, while stressing the street needed to be cleared out.
“Multiple efforts and calls to end the occupation peacefully were made but ultimately ignored,” said Rhodes-Conway in a video release August 4. “The decision to invoke this option was not made lightly and was only made after almost two weeks of trying to resolve the situation peacefully, and voluntarily, with the people occupying the site.”
Roughly 50 homeless individuals onsite were given the option to stay in hotels and were offered transportation there, says Rhodes-Conway.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Madison begins clearing protest encampment at site of deadly police shooting
Rhodes-Conway added dialogue with occupiers was difficult because there was not one singular individual with which to communicate.
The clear-out followed growing concern from people living near the site that tensions were escalating, as well as from area businesses impacted financially by the street closure.
Objects from the site are available for pickup at Demetral Field for an undetermined period of time.
The officers involved in the Ruiz shooting remain on leave as the state Division of Criminal Investigation continues looking into his death.
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