A recent shooting schedule of the CBS show "Hawaii Five-0" starring Daniel Dae Kim, Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan prompted Honolulu officials to force hundreds of homeless people out of a city park, Huffington Post reported.
Department of Facility Maintenance crews captured items belonging to homeless people at Kakaako Gateway Park, which include suitcases, tarps and mattresses, and tossed them into dump trucks.
This is part of Honolulu's sidewalk nuisance bill allowing authorities to confiscate anything considered a public nuisance from sidewalks, which is in line with Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell's war on homelessness.
The sweep was just days before of the start of the National Homeless Awareness Week, which is from Nov. 15 to 23.
In October, nine other sweeps were conducted in Honolulu but the most recent clean-up became controversial because it took place days before the shooting of a "Hawaii Five-0" car scene at Kakaako Gateway Park.
According to homeless advocates, "No Parking" signs were posted shortly after the sweep along the sidewalks that read "Eye Productions," the name of "Hawaii Five-0's" production company.
"Hawaii Five-0" executive producer Jeff Downer said they would not force homeless people to leave a location for their shooting.
Honolulu officials also made it clear that there were plans to evict the homeless already arranged before the production company acquired a permit to shoot in the area.
Among those who suspect the motive and timing for the sweep is Annabell Murray, a lawyer standing by to help the homeless people protect their properties.
"This is all, I believe, part of getting the roads cleared for the 'Five-0' shot," Murray told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "A lot of the kids are still in school, so they're going to come walking back here and see that all their stuff is gone."
Honolulu has the highest concentration of homelessness in Hawaii. Over the past five years, the state's homeless population had 32 per cent increase and currently, it has around 1,600 homeless people.
Meanwhile, Terry O'Quinn has been recently confirmed to return to play Joe White after not appearing on "Hawaii Five-0" since its third season, Unreality TV reported.
