Seattle starts sweeping homeless people out of the Jungle

Homeless outreach workers and crews from the city of Seattle and the state of Washington are sweeping people out of the homeless camp along Interstate 5 known as the Jungle.

Protesters were there to oppose the sweeps. Some said they planned to gather Tuesday night at Mayor Ed Murray’s house on Capitol Hill and offer him food as a peace offering and try to get him to talk about homelessness.

The city and the state say they’re here for the long haul and if any of the Jungle residents resist moving, they’ll wait them out.

Once the remaining people are gone, the state Transportation Department plans to build access roads in the area.

There were only a handful of campers left there Tuesday morning.

Workers from the Union Gospel Mission were picking through the remaining stuff, the tents and the bags and the garbage sacks, and deciding what is personal belongings and what is garbage.

They’re filling gallon jars with hypodermic needles and taking them to haz-mat and putting personal belongings in plastic containers so homeless people can pick them up later.