Furious residents in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood flooded the streets Sunday night, blocking construction vehicles and clashing with police amid fears a controversial homeless shelter project could break ground within hours.
Several hundred protesters lined multiple blocks near 86th Street and 25th Avenue, demanding Mayor Zohran Mamdani halt plans for a 150-bed men’s shelter that has been brewing for more than a year.
Tensions escalated quickly as roughly 100 New York City Police Department officers — some in riot gear — moved in after demonstrators pushed down barricades and surrounded a container truck attempting to enter the site.
At one point, a protester stood directly behind the vehicle’s tires to prevent it from moving, as dump trucks and other construction equipment idled nearby.
“We’re here to protest this homeless shelter, which is going to bring danger to the neighborhood,” protester Kevin Zhang, 40, said. “We’ll stay here all night and come back tomorrow night and the night after that.”
Residents argue the location — a busy corridor near transit and senior housing — makes the project especially risky.
“This is a major thoroughfare that mothers and children and elderly people take every day,” Zhang added. “Homeless shelters that house dangerous people need to be in isolated areas.”
The standoff was fueled in part by unconfirmed reports that construction would begin Monday morning, sparking a sense of urgency among locals already opposed to the plan.
All hell breaks lose outside a soon to be homeless shelter in Brooklyn NY.
This is wild !
For licensing email viralnewsnyc@gmail.com pic.twitter.com/vmDDiWCpmt
— Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) March 30, 2026
The fight over the shelter has been building since the city first notified the community in November 2023, with repeated demonstrations in the predominantly Asian American neighborhood.
One earlier protest in July 2024 turned chaotic when Councilwoman Susan Zhuang was arrested during a confrontation with police. Authorities accused her of biting a deputy NYPD chief during the clash, though the charges were later dropped.
More over at ABC News:
Bensonhurst homeless shelter construction set to begin despite community outcry https://t.co/ZnsARR4v47 pic.twitter.com/lIeJrbcqiC
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) March 30, 2026
