The clearing of the encampment along the Rivanna River at Pantops earlier this week may have looked smooth to outside observers. But it was anything but for some of its residents. One was arrested, one reported stolen belongings, and others cried while packing up what they could carry.
“My whole life is there,” one woman sobbed as she loaded a fraction of her belongings into the van of a mutual aid worker helping her move Tuesday night. “I wanted to stay until it was all gone. This was my home.”
And on Thursday, Sept. 3, the morning after the last few residents had left the encampment, a few tents along different parts of the trail were found burned, with residents’ possessions still inside. The cause is still being investigated, according to Charlottesville Fire Marshal and Deputy Chief of Community Risk Reduction Joe Phillips.
Charlottesville Tomorrow witnessed Charlottesville police arrest one encampment resident, at the encampment, the night of Sept. 2…