Police: Drug Addiction, Mental Illness Rife in Pro-Palestinean Protest Camps

Police who cleared a large pro-Palestine encampment in downtown San Diego this weekend have described the conditions they witnessed the protestors living in as 'hazardous' and 'gross'.

Invoking recently passed ordinances that ban overnight camping and the blocking of sidewalks, cops also dismantled a camp in National City after an outbreak of Hepatitis A sickened several protestors there.

"It's not surprising really, considering the degree of squalor. For a lack of public sanitation, the protestors have been relieving themselves in bottles and buckets, or out in the open," David Ashley, a spokesman for the city remarked. "Honestly, its horrifying how quickly these kids have gone downhill. I doubt many of their parents would even recognize them any more."

In addition to the physical hardships, many of the protestors were found to be suffering form mental illness and substance abuse issues.

"Drug and alcohol use appears to have been rampant in the camps, likely contributing to a rapid rise in mental illness," Ashley observed. "One young man, who says he had been studying micro chemistry at space college, couldn't even tell us where Gaza is."

Ashley shook his head. "It's sad," he said. "But that's life on the streets."