New Haven — Two months after the city moved cleared the "Tent City" encampment along the West River off Ella T. Grass Boulevard, another encampment is about to be cleared — this time by the state — just a few blocks away beneath the Boulevard near Lamberton Street in the Hill section, activists said.

Activists, people experiencing homelessness and supporters rallied Tuesday at City Hall to protest any efforts to remove the Lamberton Street encampment, which is is adjacent to the Amtrak / Metro-North railroad tracks. A person was killed in that area Feb. 11 when he was struck by a passing train.

"This is the second time in two months the City of New Haven is colluding in an illegal" effort aimed at "the throwing out of people from where they live," activist and social worker Billy Bromage said at Tuesday's rally against what activists said is the imminent action.

Meanwhile, "the city has refused to provide people with a safe place to live," Bromage said at the rally, organized by the Unhoused Activists Community Team, or U-ACT. "The breaking up of encampments actually leads to worse outcomes for people.

"We call for the immediate stop to all breakups of encampments," Bromage said. "People's lives are going to be horribly disrupted if the city breaks up an encampment in the Hill.

U-ACT member Arthur Taylor, who has been unhoused — and held a sign that read, "Fight poverty, NOT the poor" — said, "Once again, we're in the same situation. They say history repeats itself, but it's not history. It only happened two months ago."

He said authorities are treating unhoused people, now off Lamberton Street, "as if they're the outcasts of society."

Mayor Justin Elicker, later said that this time, "The city is not clearing the encampment. The state (Department of Transportation) is clearing the encampment. The state notified us about safety concerns. There was an individual on Feb. 11 of this year that was hit by a train that we believe was staying at the encampment."

DOT spokesman Josh Morgan said "it is incredibly dangerous to be near railroad tracks, and a person was recently killed crossing these tracks. In addition, conductors continue reporting that people are crossing and nearly being struck by trains.

"We are working with our partners to ensure that the safety needs of every community in the State are met," Morgan said. "CTDOT is coordinating with the City of New Haven and state partners like the Department of Housing, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and Connecticut Mental Health Center to make sure needed assistance is available for the people living in this area."

Elicker said, "We were very clear to the state that if the state clears the encampment, they need need to work to make sure that the people at the encampment have a landing place." He reiterated that the city is not "the villain" this time around.

Since the city first spoke with the state, officials from the state DMHAS and the CMHC have been out at the encampment, Elicker said.

While the city is not the agency taking action this time, "I very much understand and appreciate the state's concerns about safety, especially because" someone died there, Elicker said.

"What I have been told is that the state is working to ensure that the people remaining at the encampment have a plan for an alternative," he said.

Meanwhile, "the city is doing many, many things to support the unhoused, and has to do more, but we need to see meaningful support from the state of Connecticut in our surrounding towns," Elicker said. "We cannot do this alone."

Activists said New Haven needs to do more — and needs to stop treating homeless people as if they were criminals.

"The city apparently is going to act again without conscience," said Mark Colville, whose Catholic Worker House on Rosette Street now has 16 people living in tents and pallet huts in the backyard.

"When I was there (off Lamberton Street) yesterday, I was told that they're evicting people because 'it's too dangerous for them,'" Colville said.

Colville, who was arrested for trespassing when he went to, and then refused to leave, Tent City May 16, only to later see charges nolled, said New Haven "undertook a criminal conspiracy" with the state and "they're going to go over and destroy the homes that people have been living in for two years."

Meanwhile, "the only option that the city is offering you if you don't have a place to live tonight is to go to a shelter, get patted-down" and then be separated from family members and pets in exchange for a bed for the night.

"If somebody gets hurt, who gets blamed?" he asked. "We blame the victim."

To ease the city's homeless crisis, "we need a space," Colville said. "We need a piece of land." If activists can get those things, "We will do it ourselves." For now, "we have invited them to join us" on Rosette Street if they need a place to stay, "but we're running out of room," Colville said.

If need be, "there's a city-owned piece of property nearby" that activists will take over in order to provide shelter for people, he said.