Furious protesters blocked off construction trucks and swarmed the site of a proposed homeless shelter in Brooklyn on Sunday evening — after rumors swirled that workers would break ground at the new facility as early as Monday morning.
Several hundred protesters lined multiple blocks in Bensonhurst, calling upon Mayor Zohran Mamdani to shut down the city’s long-standing plans to erect a 150-capacity men’s shelter at 86th Street and 25th Avenue.
Roughly 100 NYPD officers, some dressed in riot gear, attempted to quell the crowd of residents who pushed down barricades and surrounded a moving container truck near the planned shelter site after unconfirmed rumors swirled that construction would begin bright and early on Monday morning.
One protester even stood behind the tires of a container truck as it attempted to back up into the site, where several construction vehicles, including dump trucks, gathered.
“We’re here to protest this homeless shelter, which is going to bring danger to the neighborhood. We’ll stay here all night and come back tomorrow night and the night after that and keep coming back until the mayor shuts down construction of this shelter,” protester Kevin Zhang, 40, told The Post.
“This is a major thoroughfare that mothers and children and elderly people take every day. The subway is right here. Homeless shelters that house dangerous people need to be in isolated areas, not in the middle of major transportation hubs,” Zhang said.
Locals said they fear the men’s shelter, which is near several senior housing complexes, could become a magnet for drugs, crime and other trouble.
Protests against the planned facility in the predominantly Asian District 43 have been ongoing since the city first notified the community about plans for the homeless shelter in November 2023.
During one heated protest in July 2024, Councilwoman Susan Zhuang (D-43) was arrested for allegedly biting a deputy NYPD chief during a scream-filled clash with cops. The charges were later dropped.
The Department of Social Services told New12 earlier this month that the department had sent a message stating that Mamdani’s administration intends to restart the proposed project, but that construction had not yet begun and the project was a long way from completion.
The shelter is still planned to open in late 2027, the agency added.
The Department of Social Services did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on the construction timeline.
“Mamdani thinks he can put homeless shelters in any neighborhood he wants because he wants the homeless to feel like they are at home, because maybe being around families will rehabilitate them,” said protestor Alex Lin.
“He could put shelters anywhere in the city, but he chooses to put them right in the middle of our neighborhood,” Lin, 35, added.
“He doesn’t care about the danger that poses to us. Look at all the cops that showed up tonight. Will the cops show up when some homeless drug addict lays his hands on a child?”
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