Multiple people have been arrested after an hours-long standoff in which homeless New Yorkers and advocates clashed with the NYPD and sanitation workers in the East Village.

With multiple members of the media watching, including NY1 political reporter Emily Ngo, police attempted on Wednesday afternoon to clear out a homeless encampment located on East 9th Street and Avenue B.

The encampment included about four to five tents and sheltered approximately a half dozen people.

A handful of activists rallied at the site when police arrived earlier in the day, chanting "let them stay" via megaphone, and effectively halted the operation.

By 4 p.m., however, the encampment was gone, six activists and one man who refused to leave his tent were arrested, according to police.

City workers had posted flyers around the site earlier in the week, warning those living in the encampment that they would have to pack up their belongings before Department of Sanitation workers cleared out the site.

Police and sanitation workers had previously cleared out the site last week, though some homeless New Yorkers returned to the site shortly afterwards.

In a statement, New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lierberman condemned the Adams administration.

“With today’s raid in the East Village, Mayor Adams made a cruel example of a handful of New Yorkers in need,” the statement reads. “His agencies removed and destroyed people’s personal belongings, leaving them more vulnerable.”

A City Hall spokesperson responded to the day’s event with a statement of their own, saying, "The mayor has been clear from the beginning that every New Yorker deserves dignity, and there is no dignity in living on the street.”

Locals who spoke with NY1 said they have mixed feelings on the issue. 

“I live on 9th Street and I was a bit disappointed today to come back to the block and see that everyone had been moved because my first thought wasn’t they’ve gone somewhere nicer, but that they lost all their stuff,” said Matsy Stinson.

“They need help, they need to be in a safe place and you don’t know how they’re going to react if they’re taking drugs or shooting up with needles repetitively,” added local Randy Conti.

Last month, Mayor Eric Adams announced a push to clear the city of homeless encampments and get individuals into shelters utilizing a task force made up of four city agencies: the Department of Homeless Services, the NYPD, and Sanitation and Parks and Recreation. The city says to date they have removed over 300 of those encampments.