Connecticut protest to stop evictions

Hartford, CT – On November 20, a dozen protesters rallied in front of the Hartford Supreme Court building to protest the mass evictions happening across Connecticut. The protest centered around Governor Ned Lamont’s inability to protect renters from evictions during the ongoing pandemic. There is a new bill requiring landlords to provide tenants with 30 days’ removal notice, being disguised as a continuation of the stay on evictions. Other issues included cancelling rent payments and investing in the community instead of police. “Cancel the rents, evictions must end,” chanted the protesters.

“The main message was clear: to deny people access to something as fundamental as shelter at any time, let alone during a massive pandemic is unacceptable and shameful,” said Benjamin Segal-Morris, a senior member of UCONN UNCHAIN, “to demand anything less than the bare minimum of ‘no evictions during the pandemic’ shows an intense lack of humanity of those involved.”

Over the course of the afternoon, activists’ calls were affirmed by the Hartford community honking from their cars or stopping to sit in with protesters. This culminated with a call for state legislators to put a stop on eviction hearings until the pandemic is over, and to end police involvement in tenant removals.

The protest was organized by UCONN UNCHAIN, Connecticut DSA, and community members.