Devon Snyder learned about the clearing of the Corey Ruiz vigil and encampment site on Willy Street from a live video posted early Tuesday morning by protestor Alan Robinson. 

Once on the site himself, Snyder, a member of the Police Civilian Oversight Board, says he witnessed “the disregard of people’s property. I saw glass shattered on the ground. People with cuts and bleeding … with police officers’ bodies on them as they’re getting shoved into glass.”

“I see a community that was built in love, out of something so tragic, and get  dismantled so quickly. And it’s very heartbreaking and disgusting.” The experience has strengthened his resolve, he says, to serve on the Police Civilian Oversight Board, designed to be a police department watchdog, and to continue to fight against “injustice.” 

The city of Madison cleared the protest and encampment at the intersection of Williamson and Baldwin streets Tuesday morning, where just under two weeks ago, a Madison Police officer fatally shot Corey Ruiz.

The operation involved city streets workers and dozens of law enforcement officers from the Madison Police Department, UW-Madison Police and Wisconsin State Patrol.

One resident who lives in an apartment building at the corner of the encampment said she could see the operation start around 4:30 a.m. At 5 a.m., the city issued a 20-minute warning of an unlawful assembly, warning those at the encampment to pack their things or they would be removed by police, according to city spokesperson Dylan Brogan.

By 6 a.m., city workers were clearing items. By 6:30 a.m., protestors had encircled the Black fist on loan from George Floyd Square. Then, police officers rushed in.

Protestors who had locked arms and encircled the area were thrown on the ground and handcuffed. Seven people were arrested. Another 10 people were cited and released.

Flowers, candles and other items from Ruiz’s memorial were swept up by city streets division workers. Personal property, and some art created by the community — potted garden boxes, the raised Black fist — were taken to Demetral Park in large cardboard boxes.

In a statement Tuesday morning, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said the city had tried to “peacefully resolve” the occupation since it took root nearly two weeks ago. “But that work could not begin while city streets were occupied, local businesses were on the verge of closing, and residents in the Marquette neighborhood were caught in the middle of an increasingly volatile situation,” she said.

“A challenge of the last two weeks was that there was not one leader, one group, or one coalition that represented the people occupying the intersection,” she added. According to a live video on Facebook, protesters from Freedom Inc. this morning marched to the mayor's east-side home, yelling, "Wake the fuck up."

On Monday, protesters downtown hurled water balloons with red dye at the City-County Building on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. According to reporting by NBC 15, the paint represented “the blood of victims killed by police.”

The clearing of the intersection comes ahead of a Common Council meeting tonight, where protesters have urged people to testify on items relating to the independence of the Office of the Independent Police Monitor, an agency that serves as a police watchdog. Citing security threats, city officials announced on July 29 that the meeting would be held online only.

In a short statement, the city announced Tuesday morning that Williamson Street and South Baldwin Street were reopened by 9 a.m. “City barricades and signage have been removed from the area,” the statement said. “Please be mindful of an increased pedestrian presence.”

On Monday, Mayor Rhodes-Conway had warned protestors to remove the barricades, take down the tents, and end the occupation, urging those still at the encampment to “leave immediately.”

“There are too many residents and local businesses suffering because of the occupation, and it's become increasingly clear that unsheltered people are being used as leverage for demands that, frankly, the city of Madison cannot deliver because we do not have the power to deliver them,” Rhodes-Conway said in a statement.

She added that the city had issued tow notices to vehicles and threatened to cite and impound them as well. Officials also asked the company that supplied port-a-potties to the site to remove them, or risk being cited and fined.

[Editor's note: Pittman is married to city spokesperson and former Isthmus staff writer Dylan Brogan, as detailed here.]