An encampment that was dug into the River Valley under the High Level Bridge was removed and the area has been cleaned up.
On Wednesday, Edmonton police shared footage to their social media pages of officers discovering the cave-like camp on the north side of the bridge.
Police say the discovery was made “recently,” though they did not specify exactly when. Officers were in the area for an unrelated investigation, EPS says, when they saw signs the area was occupied.
“(They) broke in and then set up a rather large camp underneath that,” Sgt. Serge Soucy says in the social media video. “They’ve turned the floor off, they’ve tarped the walls off in anticipation of likely moving more stuff in.
“So the fact that we’re getting to it right now is opportunistic because we’re not going to let them have a chance to get re-entrenched.”
Authorities say several people were living there, and that stolen property and weapons, including knives and axes, were found.
The excavated encampment also dug around the pillar of the bridge. “It’s been excavated to the point where the supporting beams are just standing on a small, little pillar of earth,” Soucy says.
Police say the High Level Bridge was found to be structurally sound.
Edmonton police say all campers were offered access to social supports. Garbage dumped on the bank under the bridge was cleaned up.
Police say they first discovered an encampment under the High Level Bridge in August, and that it was removed at that point, before later becoming reoccupied.
