It wasn’t your typical city council meeting in Boise Tuesday night as protesters caused the event to abruptly end.
The group was on hand for an event outside city hall to rally support for Boise’s homeless population after the tent city at Cooper Court was shut down last week.
Amid chants of, “Put us on the agenda,” protesters were angry they weren’t allowed to speak because they weren’t on the meeting’s agenda.
“Three times in Iraq, with a Purple Heart, Bronze Star recipient and I can’t speak at a public forum in this city? I can speak better in Iraq than I can in speak in Boise,” one man yelled before leaving the meeting room.
Many of the homeless population say they are hurting and upset since the shutdown of Cooper Court.
“Now, we don’t know where everybody is, we don’t know that everybody is safe, we don’t know that everybody is warm because everybody can’t get into the shelters,” said one woman we spoke with.
Those who work with at Boise Rescue Mission Ministries say they're surprised their shelters haven't filled up since the city shut down the camp. They say both the men's shelter and the women's shelter have beds, as well as opportunities, available.
And they hope people will come.
“Yeah, we prepared for more. I brought in some mats, if needed, that could be available which we didn’t even use. We had more staff on hand for Friday and Saturday but our numbers have not gone up at all,” said Jacob Lang River of Life Men's shelter Director.
At Tuesday's meeting, Mayor Beiter said he'd be happy to meet with those protesting.
Troy Minton, who is homeless, plans to take the mayor up on his offer.
“I think a lot of people, they are rallying for a good point, but like a lot of people they don't even know what it's like to be homeless until they actually are put in the shoes of what it's like to be homeless person and everything. And that's why I think it will be cool for like the mayor or the police chief or even the governor to come down and actually see what it's like," Minton said.
