Boca Raton: 100's line up for Government Handouts, Meet Riot Police Instead

[Guest guest]

Hundreds line up for Government Handouts,

Meet Riot Police Instead

March 13th, 2008

Via:

 

Palm Beach Post:

A crowd of more

than 500 people waiting for hours

this morning for housing voucher applications were dispersed by police in

riot gear at the

Boca

Raton Housing Authority when

the applications

ran out sooner than

expected.

The action prompted complaints that officers used excessive tactics and

housing authority officials were incompetent in their planning.

Two people were arrested and six to eight people hospitalized for

exhaustion during the ordeal.

Hundreds of people,

mostly mothers who

had spent more than eight hours in

line, were forced to leave the

property at 2333 W. Glades Road by 30 Boca Raton Police officers,

including SWAT team

members, who walked toward the crowd in unison holding their police

shields up about 10:30 a.m.

“Leave or face arrest,” police officers shouted at the

crowd as they urged them out of

the housing authority parking lot. People were made to leave the vicinity

altogether, with officers forcing them to cross the street and move

toward their cars.