Sweeps of Salinas homeless encampments underway.

Early in the morning Thursday, March 24, work crews came to Salinas’ Chinatown to do what many homeless people living in the area feared for months: swept their belongings from the street and sidewalks, leaving them with what fit in one or two trash bins the city provided.

Salinas police officers roped-off Market Way at Soledad Street about 7am to allow work crews to conduct the cleanup. Officers would only let people who needed to get their property past the police tape.

In stark contrast to Thursday's police presence, officers were absent on Wednesday morning, when protesters stopped cleaning crews from accessing the encampment area.

For a moment, that protest turned violent, when a bottle was broken and a protester tried to attack an employee contracted by the city, who was filming the protest. Videos reveal a chaotic scene with multiple punches thrown.

When asked if they were called to assist, officers claimed to not have heard about the incident.

Mayor Joe Gunter said Wednesday there was no final date set to start the cleanups, but officers and work crews showed up early Thursday morning with a plan.

Several homeless people said they were woken up and were told they had to leave their tent and take their property or they could be arrested. So they moved.

Work crews said they were limiting the trash bins for belongings to two containers per person.

Shortly after, work crews came with small bulldozers, brooms and trash bins and amassed garbage, chunks of wood, portions of bicycles, couches, chairs and blankets. All items were dumped into separate dumpsters.

When asked to describe the circumstances past the roped-off street, some officers said “there is a lot of trash,” “it smells terrible” and that everyone was being “cooperative” with them.

Things appeared to be going smoothly for city workers.

But on the other side of Salinas’ Chinatown, people talked about despair. Some were setting up their tents on the other side of Soledad Street, unpacking their property from the city-provided trash bins into their tents.

Norberto Moreno, 60, talked about God and said he would find a way to be OK. Maria Ponce, a 50-year-old homeless woman whose encampment was gone by 9am on Thursday, said she packed up her stuff, but had to leave quite a few things behind.

Officers are expected to stay in the area “as long as it takes." The cleanup is expected to last a couple of weeks.

City notices, warning homeless people of the cleanups, say the city has 30 days to conduct the effort.

After the cleanups are conducted, homeless people are allowed to camp in the area, but only from 6pm to 6am.

Funding for the sweeps was approved last December and it is estimated to cost the city between $175,000 to $200,000 per year.