Christmas night crackdown

by David Forbes December 30, 2021

Asheville police mark the holiday with a night raid on the Aston Park camp and arrest two Blade journalists for reporting on it

Above: Asheville police surround the Aston Park camp and prepare to attack on Dec. 25. Photo by Veronica Coit

Blade reporters Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit contributed to this piece

Editor’s note: This piece was updated on Jan. 10 with additional photos and information about the police raid

The holidays can mean many things: a time to connect with community, exhausting work schedules, hectic travel, comfort food and hospitality.

For the Asheville police department, however, Christmas means raiding a houseless camp in Aston Park, arresting two Blade journalists — Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit — and then dragging locals out of their tents. That’s how the APD chose to spread seasonal cheer.

As people gathered to share food, make art and welcome any who needed space on Christmas, Asheville’s entire on-duty police force assembled to attack them. That night they targeted journalists first, as retaliation for the Blade‘s work — in her earlier coverage Bliss had publicly criticized a high-ranking officer who’d tried to intimidate those in the park  — and to ensure there weren’t photos and video of what they did next.

This is the second time in just over a year police officers have arrested Blade journalists for doing their jobs. They arrested Coit in August 2020, dragging them out of their car while they covered an anti-racist protest.

City officials are engaged in a combination of silence, propaganda and outright lies on this issue. What follows is the truth.

‘House neighbors before tourists’

Part of an art project at the Aston Park Build. Photo by Veronica Coit

A slew of recent city hall actions have pointedly targeted the houseless, part of a broader reactionary turn among Asheville’s officials. Earlier this year city officials launched a demolition of the Lexington Avenue camp on the coldest night of the year. They did this so suddenly that even non-profits that work for the city were caught off guard. They were doing the bidding of a single gentry property owner who complained that houseless people shouldn’t be allowed to exist near art “that was commissioned to be aesthetically pleasing to tourist and taxpayers.”

The sweeps continued throughout the year, despite CDC rules saying that houseless camps should be left alone and receive sanitary services during the pandemic. In April a group of houseless locals and supporters decided to stay at the Aston Park camp. In response City manager Debra Campbell — with the support of Mayor Esther Manheimer and some conservative council members — personally ordered nearly the entire on-duty police force to attack them and destroy the camp.

This year, as winter rolled around, city officials notably dragged their feet on enacting Code Purple, a declaration that requires the opening of additional cold weather shelter space. They then destroyed a massive houseless camp near the interstate, claiming that trash was an issue (city government is responsible for trash services) and that the people there were lighting fires (it was freezing).

Banner at the Aston Park camp, Dec. 20. Photo by Matilda Bliss

City hall still refuses to fully fund Code Purple services despite having tens of millions in reserve. The only local frigid weather shelters are with two conservative religious groups, so houseless queer and trans people face a particularly dangerous winter. The only women’s shelter is run by the Salvation Army, a group so notoriously hostile to trans women that they will literally let them die in the cold.

At their Dec. 14 meeting, city council went further, simultaneously allowing even more Airbnbs and scrapping much-touted plans for a low-barrier emergency shelter at the former Ramada Inn in East Asheville. The latter passed 6-1. Even Council member Kim Roney, who’d called for an end to the sweeps earlier in the meeting, voted in favor of both. Around the same time she stopped responding to emails from local media about the city’s houseless policies.

Banner at Aston Park, Dec. 20. Photo by Matilda Bliss

But where politicians wouldn’t act, locals did. Over the past week, locals started meeting regularly in Aston Park each night to make art, provide food and supplies, build support infrastructure for houseless locals and demand a sanctuary camping spot in the park along with an end to the sweeps. They displayed banners that condemned the tie between the metastasizing hotel industry and increasing houselessness. On some evenings over 60 people showed up.

It was clear from the start that city hall was not going to take this well. Solidarity between houseless and housed locals scares them. They’d rather have the housed ignore the violence they’re perpetrating and content themselves with donating to charity once in awhile.

Given the history of APD crackdowns, and that this was a notable grassroots response to city government’s increasingly anti-houseless policies, Blade reporters went to observe the actions.

There was police harassment from the start. On the night of Dec. 19 two police vehicles and the paddy wagon showed up. That night there wasn’t a major confrontation, but the threat was clear.

Locals kept showing up anyway.

Above: APD Capt. Mike Lamb threatening arrest at Aston Park camps. Left photo (by Matilda Bliss), shows him threatening people making art on Dec. 22. Right photo (by Veronica Coit), shows him threatening to arrest campers before the April 16 eviction.

On Wednesday, Dec. 22, the police didn’t wait for nightfall. Capt. Mike Lamb threatened those who showed up to make art that day, telling them that their supplies counted as litter and that they were subject to arrest. He also threatened “investigations” and “felony litter” charges should they not pack up immediately, even though it was hours before the park’s closing time.

Felony littering requires dumping over 500 lbs. of trash on a site. Lamb, who’s been the point person in several previous camp sweeps, was lying. There’s also no law against making art in a park. Bliss observed his actions and wrote a social media report on them the next day.

On Christmas the locals involved in the project, now known as the Aston Park Build, issued a statement declaring their intent to “keep making space available to everyone that doesn’t have shelter.”

Throughout the day Bliss dropped by the site. At the time she observed no cops, just locals helping each other and enjoying the day. In a matter of hours that was about to change.

‘Where are people supposed to go?’

A ‘Stop the Sweeps’ banner at Aston Park Dec. 25. Photo by Matilda Bliss

What follows is assembled from recordings obtained by the Blade, as well detailed conversations with Bliss and Coit and other sources about the ensuing police crackdown .

Knowing that the APD isn’t averse to night raids, Bliss arrived back at the park a little before 10 p.m. on Christmas night. What she found was a growing and belligerent police presence.

This was something of a surprise, as sending the entire available police force to evict people on Christmas night is openly evil even by city government standards.

Asheville police vehicles gather before the attack on the Aston Park camp. Photo by Veronica Coit

Coit, hearing about this new escalation, joined her. They observed more vehicles and officers gathering at the edge of the park. The Blade started reporting on the police presence on social media.

Over time 10 police vehicles — including the paddy wagon — assembled on the site, and about 15 police officers headed up the hill.

As they did, someone shouted “Y’all got homes right? Why don’t you go there instead of being here?”

Officers demanded that everyone in the camp “move on.” Someone replied “where are people supposed to go?” One of the cops then made a dismissive quip about there being hotel rooms at the Ramada.

As the police threatened the campers with arrest, Coit and Bliss monitored their actions from a distance. Coit observed police tearing open tents and threaten to arrest the people inside.

Police advance up the hill to the Aston Park camp on Dec. 25. Photo by Matilda Bliss

At that point one of the cops pointed out Coit and said “[they’re] taking pictures.” Five officers moved over to block their view and arrest them. In a video they took Coit can be heard repeatedly reminding the cops that they’re a member of the press, only to face demands that they leave the park entirely or go to jail.

They expressed their disbelief, exclaiming “are you serious?” as APD officers put them in handcuffs, for the second time in just over a year, for doing their job.

Asheville police start threatening campers with arrest. Photo by Veronica Coit

They then singled out Bliss, who was observing from the opposite side of the tents, as she covered Coit’s arrest. Several officers advanced towards her and told her to immediately leave the park or get hauled off in handcuffs. She repeatedly said “I’m press,” cited her first amendment rights, and told the police “I’m just covering the events.” Her Blade press identification was openly displayed. Indeed, she was still wearing it when she was released from jail.

Remember that barely three days before Bliss had publicly criticized a major APD commander in her reporting. She was arrested by the senior officers overseeing the raid, who made a point of immediately confiscating her phone and backpack. As of this writing, the police department and district attorney’s office have not returned them.

While there were multiple people observing the APD’s actions from a distance only Coit and Bliss were arrested.

The officers put Bliss into the wagon, Coit in a separate compartment. According to the last things they observed, and from sources they later spoke with, APD then grew even more violent, dragging campers out of tents and arresting them. Six people, including the Blade reporters, were arrested that night. Our journalists were clearly targeted first to remove those who could quickly bring the brutality that followed to the public’s attention.

At the jail Coit was processed fairly quickly. But while there she heard one of the magistrates wonder dismissively to a colleague if the Blade “was a real newspaper.”

Photo by Veronica Coit

Bliss was singled out for painful intimidation. Despite being the second person arrested, she was the last taken into the jail and the last released. Asheville police left her handcuffed in the wagon for over two hours, causing severe back and leg pain in the process. Of those arrested that night, she was the only one whose phone was confiscated. The deputies at the jail told her that her belongings would be kept in the APD property room, but they have since refused to release them, claiming they need authorization from the district attorney.

By the time she was released it was nearly 2 a.m. She came out with hard bruises on her wrists from the handcuffs.

Retaliation season

Occasionally we at the Blade field questions about why our coverage of Asheville city government is so relentlessly critical, why it’s justified to include open anger alongside research and investigation.

“Because they’re the kind of people that will happily attack a houseless camp on Christmas and throw journalists in jail for reporting on it” sums things up pretty well.

The APD’s petty retaliation is no surprise to us. The Blade has regularly investigated the department’s record of bigotry and violence. Recently we published an expose on a racist propaganda campaign concocted by the APD and a right-wing pr firm. The head of the department’s pr wing resigned shortly after.

Indeed, in a September 10, 2020 listening session over 40 APD officers told a consultant what their priorities were. These included “no scrutiny from media” and “knowing your decisions will not be scrutinized.” This was about a month after they dragged Coit from their car and arrested them, and barely two months after Asheville police made international headlines for destroying a medic station.

A slide from the official Asheville government summary of the APD listening session. The full document is here

So we don’t have to guess that the APD hates press scrutiny. They’ve literally said so. They act accordingly.

Blade reporters were clearly targeted by the police. That Coit and Bliss were arrested first, and that officers pointed towards Coit taking photos and demanded Bliss leave the park (so she’d no longer be able to observe what was going on) show not random mistakes but an intentional attack. As does the fact they were the only people standing back and observing who were arrested that night. The APD wanted to arrest the press before carrying out a violent eviction, especially as they knew these reporters wouldn’t simply repeat their press releases verbatim.

The fact this is the second time a Blade reporter’s been targeted while doing their job speaks to a pattern of retaliation from Asheville city hall against us. Clearly, they view what we do as a threat.

It is also not a coincidence that Bliss was singled out for such brutal treatment by a department she’d publicly criticized just days earlier. These are institutions and people that do not like opposition in any form. Indeed, they take it incredibly personally. This is part of a larger pattern of city hall seeking to silence even the most basic criticism and dissent.

Journalists are not separate from the communities we cover. The tactics used against members of the public, medics, legal observers and demonstrators inevitably end up used any non-craven news organization too.

However, if they were thinking this would silence the Blade, or that their actions would go unnoticed, they were wrong. The Committee to Protect Journalists, the international organization dedicated to defending press freedom, quickly condemned the arrests.

“It’s very concerning when law enforcement arrest reporters who are doing their jobs and covering matters of public interest,” CPJ U.S. and Canada Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen said in a Dec. 28 statement. “Asheville authorities should immediately drop the charges against Coit and Bliss and return Bliss’ phone.”

As of this writing they have still not done so. This isn’t just on the APD. District attorney Todd Williams could dismiss all charges and return Bliss’ belongings today if he wanted to.

The Blade has received an outpouring of public support facing this open attempt at repression. The Asheville Free Press repeatedly denounced the arrests and covered the issue extensively. Ashevegas featured our social media reporting.

But much of the establishment media — publications like the Asheville Citizen-Times and Mountain Xpress — has stayed notably silent. It’s a downright eerie silence considering a christmas police raid that draws condemnation — for arresting reporters, no less — from an international organization is pretty major news no matter how one slices it.

They haven’t been alone in that. Every Asheville city council member and all but one of the people running to replace them in next year’s elections (candidate Andrew Fletcher condemned the arrests the next day) have stayed quiet. Non-profits who relentlessly fundraise around their supposed care for the houseless are suddenly crickets when those fighting camp sweeps are brutally arrested.

Too often the Asheville default is to pretend injustice isn’t happening and then wonder why things keep getting worse.

We will not be silent. Not now, not ever. We will fight these charges. We will fight the lies that inevitably emerge from city hall. We will continue to report the truth no matter what.

Blade editor David Forbes has been a journalist in Asheville for over 15 years. She writes about history, life and, of course, fighting city hall. They live in downtown, where they drink too much tea and scheme for anarchy.

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