IRVINE – More than 250 people gathered at the City Hall plaza Friday morning, March 23, to protest the county’s proposal to create temporary homeless camps, including one adjacent to the Orange County Great Park.

They held up signs with messages such as “No tent city in Irvine. Our children need safety,” “No drugs near children. No danger near school,” and “No homeless shelter in Irvine.”

Di Lu, 4, of Lake Forest, holds a sign on his mother Liu Yang’s lap during a protest against the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. The family lives “very close to the Great Park.” (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Residents protest the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Residents protest the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Chinese residents protest the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Residents protest the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)



Residents protest the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Zhihai Li, vice president of marketing for WeIrvine, translates for Irvine City Council member Melissa Fox during a protest against the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. WeIrvine is an internet-based service that helps Chinese immigrants settle in Irvine. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Residents protest the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Residents sign a petition against the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park during a protest at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Zhihai Li, vice president of marketing for WeIrvine, translates for Irvine City Council member Melissa Fox during a protest against the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. WeIrvine is an internet-based service that helps Chinese immigrants settle in Irvine. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)



Residents protest the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Zhihai Li, vice president of marketing for WeIrvine, speaks during a protest against the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. WeIrvine is an internet-based service that helps Chinese immigrants settle in Irvine. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Irvine City Council member Melissa Fox speaks during a protest against the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Residents listen to Irvine City Council member Melissa Fox speak during a protest against the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Zhihai Li, vice president of marketing for WeIrvine, introduces Irvine resident Lee Sun during a protest against the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)



Irvine resident Lee Sun speaks during a protest against the county’s plan to build a homeless shelter on 100 acres adjacent to the Orange County Great Park at Irvine City Hall in Irvine on Friday, March 23, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

“Now, (the county supervisors) want to recreate the scene of the riverbed in Irvine’s Great Park,” Liqing Lee Sun, who’s running for the City Council, told the crowd. “Can you imagine your child running on the lawn and step on a needle which could be contaminated by HIV? We cannot let that happen.”

The event was organized by WeIrvine, an internet-based business that promotes Irvine to Chinese immigrants and helps them settle in the city. Many in attendance were recent immigrants from China, organizers said.

Over the past three or four years, Irvine has become one of the top destinations in the world for wealthy young families in mainland China because of the city’s low crime rate and reputable public schools. The homeless camp proposed on 100 acres of county-owned land just south of the Orange County Great Park is all these Chinese residents are talking about on social media, WeIrvine founder Xiaoxiang Lu said.

“It’s going to destroy their belief in Irvine,” Lu said.

WeIrvine plans to charter 14 buses, up from the originally intended seven, for residents interested in attending a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, March 27, Lu said.

Supervisors Lisa Bartlett and Michelle Steel said they plan at Tuesday’s meeting to try to reverse the plan to establish temporary homeless shelters in Irvine, Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach, though Bartlett is floating the idea of a single larger camp in Irvine.