What was that militarized presence in Kensington? Not the National Guard, Council says.

When tactical vehicles rolled up near Kensington and Allegheny Avenues on Thursday, and a group of men in camouflage began milling around, passersby pulled out their phones and posted their concerns: Was Mayor Cherelle L. Parker somehow making good on her campaign-trail promise to bring the National Guard in to shut down the neighborhood’s open-air drug markets?

The answer, according to Philadelphia City Council, is no.

“This was a special operation by the Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement serving warrants,” members of the so-called Kensington Caucus said in a statement Saturday afternoon. The group, which includes Councilmembers Quetcy Lozada and Mark Squilla, whose districts meet at the K&A intersection, emphasized its support for “the work of all of our public safety partners and their efforts to restore the quality of life for the residents who call Kensington home.”

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The Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to questions about the purpose of the operation — or about why officers were serving warrants in broad daylight rather than early in the morning, as is typical in warrant sweeps.

The reaction online and in the community was alarm — coming less than a week after a man, 28-year-old Alexander Spencer, was killed and a police officer wounded during an encounter in a store in nearby Fairhill that a witness said began with a police stop-and-frisk.

Harm-reduction organizers in Kensington posted online protesting Thursday’s operation, which the group alleged had targeted unhoused people and drug users. The group, called the Philadelphia Coalition for Dignity in Treatment, said their fear is that this is part of a new, aggressive tactic to sweep people off the street and into forced treatment.