Chris Doyon faces Federal Charges for Cyber-attack in Santa Cruz County

At Peace Camp 201o on July 10th, exhausted houseless people arrive and bed down for a welcome night's sleep as part of the protest against laws which outlaw sleeping at night. Photo by Becky Johnson

NOTE TO READER: Neither the SENTINEL nor the FEDERAL INDICTMENT against Chris Doyon states our issue properly. Peace Camp 2010 was NOT calling for an end to the CAMPING BAN. In 20 some articles they've NEVER gotten it right. We assembled to protest the INJUSTICE of laws which ban SLEEPING AT NIGHT and the ban which forbids using a BLANKET AT NIGHT. We also called for amnesty for past citations. We understand that cities have the right to regulate camping. However, the City of Santa Cruz does not REGULATE camping. It forbids it completely. And this in a City with over 1,000 houseless people and shelter for less than 10% on our best days. Peace Camp 2010 had NOTHING to do with the cyber-attack. We did not plan it. We did not approve it. We had no knowlege of it until it happened. And ED FREY and I both condemned it at the time. We have always been out to win over the hearts and minds of the citizenry that it is WRONG to forbid houseless people the right to sleep at night in a situation in which inadequate shelter exists. Finally, the County camping ban does not apply to the grounds at the County Building, so we were violating no county code by sleeping there. ---- Becky Johnson , ed.

Homeless activist indicted for county cyber attack: Voice of 2010 protests swept up in nationwide crackdown

By Jason Hoppin

Posted: 09/23/2011 01:30:47 AM PDT

ARTICLE FOUND ONLINE HERE.

SANTA CRUZ -- A homeless activist who appears to have been instrumental in last year's Santa Cruz camping ban protests was arrested Thursday for allegedly hacking Santa Cruz County computers in December, federal authorities allege.
A federal grand jury's indictment of Mountain View resident Christopher Doyon, 47, appears to be part of a nationwide crackdown on the hacker community. A second man also has been charged in the attack, which authorities say was planned as retribution for the breakup of a lengthy protest over the city's controversial outdoor sleeping ban.
According to the indictment, Doyon and Joshua John Covelli, a 26-year-old Fairborn, Ohio, resident, hatched "Operation Peace Camp 2010" on behalf of the Massachusetts-based group Peoples Liberation Front, which claimed credit for the attack and has been linked to the hacker group Anonymous.


Anonymous has been linked to a number of online hacking attacks worldwide, and played an instrumental role in a recent series of BART protests. Their members often appear in public wearing masks, particularly of the British 17th century revolutionary Guy Fawkes.
The county government computer attacks resulted in users not being able to access the county's website. No information was compromised or disseminated, county officials said.
The two-month protest over the camping ban began on the steps of the county courthouse and ended in front of Santa Cruz City Hall. Ultimately, the sheriff's deputies moved in early in the morning to break up the protest.


In letters posted on Peace Camp's blog, Doyon also described himself as homeless and some news reports on Thursday also described him as such, though federal authorities could not confirm it. Authorities provided no details on his arrest.



"All I know is that it went without incident," FBI spokeswoman Julie Sohn said.


A Chris Doyon of the same age was quoted in a Sentinel article last year about the camping ban protest, saying he believed people had the right to sleep wherever they choose.
Doyon was also one of five people ultimately charged with illegal camping, though he never showed up for trial. Prosecutor Sara Dabkowski said in May that a bench warrant had been issued for his arrest, but no further information was available Thursday.
Doyon once described himself as a spokesman for the group. At the time, he said he grew up in Maine and moved west to follow the Grateful Dead. He also vowed not to give up protesting the camping ban.
"This is a fight about aesthetics," he was quoted as saying. "One man's garbage is another man's belongings. I think millionaires are unaesthetic; I think Hummers are disgusting. You see the ridiculousness. This is class warfare."
The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office offered scant information, but the indictments appear to part of a broader net cast by federal authorities.



Also Thursday, the FBI's Los Angeles office announced it had arrested a Phoenix man on charges he hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment's website.
Cody Kretsinger, 23, was arrested without incident, based on a Sept. 2 federal grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday. The indictment alleges Kretsinger carried out the attack as part of the group LulzSec, which has also been linked to Anonymous.
An FBI official told FoxNews.com that search warrants were being executed in Minnesota, New Jersey and Montana.

Covelli was previously indicted in July for allegedly hacking into PayPal. He was not arrested Thursday, and his next scheduled court appearance in the earlier case is set for November.
Both Doyon and Covelli were charged with conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer, which carries a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, and aiding and abetting, which can carry a sentence of 10 years and a fine of $250,000.
Any sentence is subject to federal sentencing guidelines.

Doyon made a brief court appearance Thursday. His next scheduled appearance is Sept. 29.

__._,_.___

SENTINEL disses Peace Camp 2010...again

Peace Camp 2010 co-founder, Ed Frey arrives on July 4th, 2010 at the County Courthouse steps with a porto-potty in tow to launch a night-time safe sleeping zone in protest of the City's Sleeping Ban. Photo by Becky Johnson

NOTE TO READER: Peace Camp 2010, which ended it's protest phase on October 2nd, was to demonstrate against the portions of Santa Cruz' Camping Ban which outlaws sleeping at night between the hours of 11PM and 8:30AM anywhere out of doors or in a vehicle within the City Limits on both public and private property. Use of a blanket is banned as well during those hours. Frey and other advocates claim that citing and arresting homeless people for sleeping and for staying warm with a blanket in a City with annual shelter for 8% of its homeless population constitutes a human rights abuse. With the SENTINEL continually calling the Sleeping Ban, the "camping ban" as though it didn't exist, the public remains unaware of the scope of the abuse. ---Becky Johnson, Editor

FROM: HITS AND MISSES SEPTEMBER 28TH 2010

Santa Cruz Sentinel

Santa Cruz, Ca.

Misses

Moveable protest:

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/opinion/ci_16192152

The activists protesting Santa Cruz's camping ban uprooted again last week and returned to the county courthouse, where their poorly conceived protest began on July Fourth. They say they will remain at the courthouse until the city changes its policy outlawing "camping" on public property in the city. We continue to support the ban, which aims to eliminate some of the problems associated with homeless campers -- noise, trash, waste and crime -- and would ask the activists to consider why there is a lack of public support for their cause.

Peace Camp 2010 protesters march to Santa Cruz police station

Camping ban protesters marched Tuesday from Santa Cruz City Hall to the lobby of the Santa Cruz Police Department where they attempted to retrieve all their property that has been confiscated from their camping sites. (Dan Coyro/Sentinel)


NOTE TO READER: After only three people had been processed, police pre-emptively shut down the office, ordering all those waiting in the lobby (and cooling off from record heat) out of doors. While police take blankets/property of homeless people 24/7, they only return it during a 1 hour time slot, two days a week leaving homeless people out in the cold without their survival gear. ---Becky Johnson, Ed.



FURTHER NOTE: The photo of the interior is a tribute to the (occasional) journalistic independence of Dan Coyro, the Sentinel photographer. Trisha Husome, records manager, came out from behind the thick glass enclosure in which the employees work. She told him and the rest of us that photographing and recording wee "not allowed" in the building (though police have a video camera monitoring the lobby).

Dan and Peacecamp2010 supporters, myself included, ignored Husome's repressive advisory. I'll be playing some audio of the protest which will be archived at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb100826.mp3

Last year Husome actually refused to provide documents under the Public Records Act because I was openly making an audio of our interaction (because of past difficulties and to keep an objective record of what went down). See "SCPD Covering Up False Police Report From Councilmember Mike Rotkin?" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/12/26/18468941.php

Not only were those homeless waiting for their property (and the public generally forced out of doors by four officers and a lieutenant ("lobby is closed"), but the police refused to give an explanation.

After Peacecampsters sat down (or lay down in the intense afternoon heat) to await the next 15 minute interval when the property officer would be "available", the police announced that the entire property room would be closed until next Thursday. When there would again be a narrow opening between 12:30 and 1:30 and another between 3:15 and 3:30. Unless the police again decide otherwise.

I did ask for the return of a table, two chairs, several "End the Sleeping Ban" signs, and the Peacecamp2010 teddy bear. I was told they couldn't help me because I had no "incident number". It did me no good to tell them the items weren't put in an incident report, as far as I knew. If anyone sees the downtown Officer Forbus, please advise him I'm trying to get my teddy bear released.
--Robert Norse

Camping ban protesters march to Santa Cruz police station
By J.M. BROWN
Posted: 08/25/2010 01:30:17 AM PDT

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15886112



SANTA CRUZ --" A small group of demonstrators taking part in the protest against the city's overnight sleeping ban marched to the police department Tuesday in hopes of retrieving blankets, sleeping bags, signs and other items seized during recent arrests.

Participant Becky Johnson said at least two people were given paperwork to retrieve their property but wasn't sure whether any actually received it. Police confirmed some property was collected.

"We went there en masse and apparently overwhelmed their staff," Johnson said.

The police department allows people who have been arrested to pick up property during brief windows of time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Due to cutbacks, the department only permits property pickup between 12:30-1:30 p.m. and 3:15-3:30 p.m. on those days.

No arrests or problems were reported during Tuesday's event. Johnson said there were no immediate plans to have another march Thursday.

Police arrested four people and issued 12 tickets outside City Hall between Saturday and 5 p.m. Tuesday. Protesters, who began their seven-week demonstration at the county courthouse lawn, are opposed to the ban against sleeping outside from 11 p.m. to 8:30 a.m., a law they believe unfairly targets homeless people.

They have asked police to check whether local shelters are full before writing citations and have vowed to stay until the City Council overturns the ban. The city attorney routinely dismisses citations if shelters were full on the evening of the day they were written.

"After failing to get traction at the county building, then failing again at City Hall, apparently the protesters are trying to gain traction at the police department," police spokesman Zach Friend said. "It's safe to say it's unlikely they'll get any traction here."

Camping ban protesters marched Tuesday from Santa Cruz City Hall to the lobby of the Santa Cruz Police Department where they attempted to retrieve all their property that has been confiscated from their camping sites. (Dan Coyro/Sentinel)

Floodlights, noise, 24 hr security guards placed at Peace Camp 2010

NOTE TO READER: Our protest is a legal demonstration attempting to redress the government grievance of the Sleeping Ban. Claiming the lights make anyone "safer" is ludicrous. Not mentioned in the article is that a private security guard has been stationed at Peace Camp 2010 for almost 2 weeks now. When asked, the guards will not say who has hired them. Despite this scrutiny, people continue to sleep and be cited for Sleeping, illegal use of a blanket, illegal "lodging", and for setting up a campsite with the intent of spending the night. It's impossible to determine why one code is used for one person, a different code for another person, and some only get more and more citations while others are arrested. ---- Becky Johnson, Ed.


Santa Cruz police light up camping protest with floodlights
By Jennifer Squires
Posted: 08/19/2010 01:30:51 AM PDT

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15823598

SANTA CRUZ -- The day a convicted child molester was arrested at a homeless camping demonstration on the City Hall lawn, Santa Cruz police officers hauled in large floodlights to illuminate the protest.

Deputy Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel said the aim of lighting the protest is to protect public safety. The lights went up Tuesday night and will be there until the demonstration ends.

"The lights at City Hall are simply an additional security measure and were put in place for the safety of our community," Vogel said Wednesday. "With yesterday's arrest of the convicted child molester at City Hall, it's apparent that the City Hall protest has reached new proportions."

Mark Greer, a 29-year-old local transient, was arrested at the demonstration Tuesday under the state anti-lodging law but he gave the officer a fake name, according to police.

The discrepancy was sorted out at County Jail, where he was fingerprinted and his real name popped up. Jail records showed he is registered sex offender and has five warrants from San Luis Obispo County.

As part of his child molestation conviction, Greer is required to register with police every month, but hasn't checked in with law enforcement since June, police said.

Vogel said Greer's arrest, along with fights, trash and other issues at the camp-in demonstration, show participants can't police themselves.

The so-called Peace Camp protest launched July Fourth at the county courthouse
and moved to City Hall a week ago. Participants are calling for an end to the city ordinance that prohibits camping outside between 11 p.m. and 8:30 a.m.

Police have been going to the demonstration nightly to ticket and arrest participants. Two people were ticketed around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday for violating the camping law. Vogel said it seemed there were fewer protest participants than on prior nights.

Illuminating the demonstration with floodlights costs about $100 a day, police reported.

Arrests made, citations issued at Peace Camp 2010 as deputies bust up the protest of city's camping ban

by Alia Wilson

August 7, 2010

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_15704659

SANTA CRUZ - Deputies rousted Peace Camp 2010 just after midnight Saturday and according to homeless activists arrested five people and handed out multiple misdemeanor citations.

Up to 60 people have been camping out in front of the county government building since July Fourth protesting the city's camping ban, which prohibits sleeping on public or private property from 11 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. Saturday's Sheriff's visit marks the third time deputies have been to the camp late at night to document the names and the number of people there, taking photos and video.

Sgt. Roy Morales of the Sheriff's Office returned a phone call Saturday morning to say he was aware some arrests were made but had no information on how many people were arrested or what they were arrested for. He said he thought they would issue a press release later in the evening.

"We cited some people and took a few to jail," Morales said "but I don't know how many."

Around 12:15 a.m., deputies woke up the nearly 40 people sleeping outside the courthouse to inform them they were in violation of the state's anti-lodging law California Penal Code section 647 section e, according to Peace Camp co-founder Becky Johnson. The law states it is illegal for anyone to lodge in any building, structure, vehicle, or place, whether public or private, without the permission of the owner.

"They went very methodically from person to person waking everyone up, photographing them and asking for their names and IDs," Johnson said. "I don't know who invoked this section of the penal system. We're looking at 20-25 cases of 647e potentially in the Santa Cruz County court system."

According to Johnson, deputies first came to the Peace Camp to hand out a flier that stated: "You are lodging here without permission of the owner or the person entitled to control this property therefore you are not entitled to be here."

The flier says nothing about violating the city's camping ban. Citing the state's lodging code is a tactic not previously deployed by law enforcement.

"I have not heard of anyone being cited for that in this area for several years," Johnson said.

About an hour later, deputies returned and cited those still there alerting them if they did not leave, they would be arrested. Those who did not leave were arrested a short time later, Johnson said. That amounted to five arrests, by her count, one for refusing to sign the citation and another for an outstanding warrant for petty theft.

Johnson, who was at the courthouse camp for a couple of hours this morning, said there were about a dozen people there who planned to stay and sleep and "fully expect the sheriff to come back and fully expect to be arrested."

Johnson said she was surprised that law enforcement was using the state penal code to break up the camp because the misdemeanor charges will require public defenders be assigned to the indigent homeless folks who were cited and potentially result in jury trials.

All photos by Bill Lovejoy at the Santa Cruz SENTINEL Aug 7 2010

Earlier Media Posts

by Robert Norse

MORE EARLIER MEDIA COVERAGE OF PEACECAMP2010

PeaceCamp2010 Marches to City Hall
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/07/26/18654725.php

Night-Time Only Community Peace Camp in Santa Cruz County
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/06/29/18652236.php

4th July 2010 Sleepout/Camping Ban Vigil at S.C. County Bldg.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/07/04/18652668.php

Live Coverage of Protest to Legalize Sleep
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/43967



EARLIER POSTS ON THE 2007 SLEEP-IN PROTEST AT CITY HALL

Street Shit Sheet #169
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/06/18439219.php

Sunday August 12th Know Yr Rights, Feed, Film, and Sleep-Out at City Hall
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/06/18439222.php

Long-Time Santa Cruz Tenant and Homeless Activist Explains the City Hall Sleep-Out
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/21/18442047.php

Trash Orchestra & "Santa Cruz Sit Ban" Video Tonight at Homeless City Hall Sleep Zone
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/16/18441052.php

Sleep Ban Fighters Regroup after Saturday Morning Police Raid
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/18/18441394.php

More Notes on the Homies for the Homeless Protest at City Hall
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/18/18441394.php?show_comments=1#18441626

City Council Passes Resolution Preventing Vigilante Justice Against Homeless
[a satirical article]
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/21/18442098.php

Striking Back Against Sentinel/SCPD Smears and "Progressive" Silence on the Sleeping Ban
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/23/18442736.php

Peace Camp 2010 demo enters 3rd week on courthouse steps as county officials weigh their options

Peace Camp demonstration enters third week on courthouse steps as county officials weigh their options

By Jennifer Squires

Posted: 07/21/2010 01:30:17 AM PDT

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_15564485

SANTA CRUZ -- Four people sit together playing bongos and a tambourine while a puppy lounges nearby.

A man wearing a bolo hat rollerblades in tight circles as tie-dyed fabric hanging from a tree flutters in the breeze.

Several people tucked into sleeping bags snooze, but the man who hung his hammock from the handrail has taken off.

No, it's not a summer music festival. This was the scene in front of the Santa Cruz County Superior Courthouse just before noon Tuesday, where demonstrators have been sleeping nightly since the Fourth of July to protest the city's camping ordinance in what they call Peace Camp 2010.

"This is a humanitarian issue," said Christopher Doyon, a 45-year-old homeless man who has been participating in the protest for about two weeks. "Folks have a right to sleep."

Demonstrators are protesting the city's camping law, which prohibits sleeping outside between 11 p.m. and 8:30 a.m. But the protest is squarely on county property and county code does not list the courthouse property among locations designated as no-camping zones like Paradise Park and Carbonera Creek.

Although the city's "sleeping ban," as opponents have dubbed it, has been a point of contention for years, frustrations hit a high mark earlier this summer when police said a man set fire to the city attorney's office because of the law. The city also is pursuing a permanent injunction against a homeless couple repeatedly ticketed for camping downtown.

A measure recently approved by the City Council allows the city attorney to increase ignored municipal code citations to misdemeanors.

But more than two weeks into the demonstration, city police have taken no action and don't intend to, unless the protest moves off county property, Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Rick Martinez said.

So the so-called Peace Camp, which includes 30-50 campers a night, presents a conundrum for city and county officials.

Some would like to see demonstrators move on. For example, court spokesman Tim Newman said the protest hasn't caused problems for the county court branch, but he was concerned campers may have impeded people's ability to access the local justice system.

However, in the 17 days since the protest began, the campers haven't caused significant problems. Trash cans fill up faster and sometimes the aroma of marijuana floats through the air, but the camp has its own portable toilet to mitigate issues with human waste, officials said.

"It looks like a slumber party," said county spokeswoman Dinah Phillips, who can see the protest from the window of her office in the county building. "They line their sleeping bags up."

Still, county officials spent much of Tuesday afternoon in meetings discussing the demonstration.

"We are keeping an eye on it, and we're evaluating our possible responses," Phillips said. "At this point, I don't know what actions we might take, but we're looking at them, evaluating them."

Demonstrators said Tuesday they have no intention of leaving. What had been billed as an 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. sleep-in has grown to a daylong hangout in what protesters have deemed the Peace Garden, a tranquil sitting area in front of the courthouse and surrounding lawn. And the demonstrators have a Twitter account to alert supporters of any attempts to end the protest.

Beyond drawing attention to the plight of homeless people in the city, organizers said the demonstration has given people a safe place to catch a few winks. Doyon said some fellow campers have told him staying on the courthouse lawn allowed them to have their first safe night's sleep in weeks or months.

"We have everybody coming here," said homeless advocate Becky Johnson, who helped organize the protest. She said the campers include the chronically homeless, travelers stopping in for a night, and a younger crowd that parties until 2 or 3 a.m., then comes by to crash.

One elderly, ailing woman joined the campers after sleeping on the San Lorenzo River levee, where she lived in fear of being raped or robbed. The woman, who uses a cane to get around, now sleeps with friendly faces at the courthouse, Johnson said.

Doyon said the group hopes their demonstration will lead local government officials to establish a safe, legal place for the homeless to camp.

"We've got fantastic support," said Doyon, dressed in mismatched camouflage gear and sporting a reddish beard and shaggy hair. "We're going to be relentless."

Phillips said county officials have not opened a dialogue with the group and don't plan to discuss moving the camp to another, more permanent location because the county already funds homeless services.

"Again, we're somewhat puzzled at the fact they have an issue with the city ordinance and we don't know why they're here on county property," Phillips said. "We wish they'd take this issue back to the city where it belongs."

All photos: Dan Coyro, SENTINEL July 21 2010

Homeless, their advocates sleep at county courthouse to protest Santa Cruz's camping ban

NOTE TO READER: HUFF is soliciting blankets, sleeping bags, pillows, tarps, and food donations for our nightly event. Please come by, sign our petition, and lie down with us against the Sleeping Ban (MC 6.36.010 section a). If you would like to add your name to our list of endorsers, please e-mail : becky_johnson222@hotmail.com -- ed.

Above photo: Leigh, who has been at
Peace Camp 2010 every night
speaks to SENTINEL reporter, Kimberly White on July 5, 2010.

Homeless, their advocates sleep at county courthouse to protest Santa Cruz's camping ban

By Kimberly White

Posted: 07/06/2010 01:30:54 AM PDT

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15446448

SANTA CRUZ -- A handful of homeless men and homeless rights advocates gathered in front of the Santa Cruz County courthouse Monday night, spreading out blankets and unfurling their sleeping bags in a willful violation of a city ordinance that prohibits camping within city limits.

Leigh, who declined to provide his last name, was preparing to sleep out on the courthouse steps for the second night. He said he has lived in Santa Cruz for 35 years and has been "houseless" for the last four or five years.

"I understand at some legal level why the ban was implemented," he said. "I also understand that it was implemented due to the city's intentional oversight in the creation of housing and jobs for people that actually live here. They're in violation of the state charter that requires them to build housing for people that actually work here, or at least plan for it."

He called the ban a "draconian measure" aimed at making it "harder for people that they do displace to stay here" and then criminalizing the resulting behavior.

"The problem is, for a lot of people here, there's no place to go," he said.

Organizers of the "Peace Camp" say they will continue camping on the courthouse steps every night from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. until the city either scraps what they call a "sleeping ban" or creates a safe shelter with additional capacity.

Santa Cruz Vice Mayor Ryan Coonerty said the city attorney automatically dismisses any citations handed out for illegal camping, provided there is proof that all available beds at the various shelters around the city are full.

"He'll dismiss it," agreed Ed Frey, a local attorney who helped organize the protest, "but he won't stop the police from waking people up, writing them a ticket, making them go to court twice, and go over to the homeless services shelter and get an affidavit to the effect that there were no beds available that night. And then the law, in its majesty, will grant you a not guilty verdict."

According to the 2009 Santa Cruz Homeless Census and Survey, about 2,260 people in the county are homeless.

Coonerty estimated that through a combination of city programs and a partnership with area churches, roughly 400 beds are available each night -- and the latest report that came out last month showed that the shelters averaged about 84 percent capacity total.

"I'm not even sure that any area churches are participating anymore in that program," said Becky Johnson, a member of advocacy group HUFF, or Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom, which is backing the protest. HUFF estimates that shelter space is available for only 8 percent of that population, or about 180.

She said the Interfaith Satellite Shelter Project is now redirecting their staffing and funding into the Paul Lee Loft, a new facility at the Homeless Services shelter.

Frey said about 10 of the about 30 people who arrived at the courthouse lawn Sunday night slept there overnight. Deputies eventually came by "and checked us out," he said, but ultimately left without issuing any citations.

Paul Tashiro, patrol supervisor for the Sheriff's Office, saw several people camped out on the platform in front of the courthouse Sunday night, but said no citations were issued because the protesters were peaceful and not creating any disturbances.

In fact, Tashiro said Monday afternoon -- before that evening's vigil began -- that he didn't even know what they were protesting.

"I don't know how much attention they brought to the homelessness issue in the middle of the night on a holiday weekend," he said when he learned that they are protesting the sleeping ban. He noted that if they are gone by 8 a.m. today, "they won't disrupt any services because the county doesn't even open until after 8 a.m."

Asked what the advocates hope to accomplish, Frey said they want to "put pressure on the city government and courts to do the right thing" and stop depriving the homeless of sleep. Instead of forcing the homeless to jump through so many hoops to get the fines dismissed, police should simply call the shelter themselves to confirm that it is full, he said.

"The solution is to follow the law ... which gives the homeless a right to privacy, a right to be left alone, a right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, a right to due process of the law, and a right to be free from torture," Frey said.

"If they think it's unconstitutional, they should challenge it," Coonerty said. "If they want to change the policy, they should have people run for City Council. ... I don't think camping out is the most effective way" to create the change they want.