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Federal judge allows city to clear out homeless encampments on Benjamin Franklin Parkway and in N. Philly

The ruling is a turning point in a debate over the sites, which organizers say are protests over housing conditions in Philadelphia, and which city officials decry as unhealthy and unsafe.

Delaney Keefe (center), a second-year Villanova law student who helped file the injunction against the city, is embraced by Josephine August (left) and Ace (right) at the encampment after learning that a federal judge ruled the City of Philadelphia can clear out the site.
Delaney Keefe (center), a second-year Villanova law student who helped file the injunction against the city, is embraced by Josephine August (left) and Ace (right) at the encampment after learning that a federal judge ruled the City of Philadelphia can clear out the site.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer