OAKLAND — City crews on Tuesday cleared out homeless camps in Mosswood Park, weeks before the start of a program there for disabled youths.

Assistant City Administrator Joe DeVries, who is in charge of homeless outreach, said the permanent closure of the camps was needed to ensure safety for about 150 disabled youth who will join a program there beginning in July. It and other programs are returning after going on hiatus in 2016 when a two-alarm fire damaged the park’s recreation center.

DeVries cited a large volume of hypodermic needles as one reason the city decided to move out the approximately 20 residents.

“We can’t have 150 disabled students recreating in a park where we routinely collect hundreds of hypodermic needles,” he said, adding that two months ago a hazmat worker found 750 used needles. A worker on Tuesday filled a bucket full of needles, DeVries said.

At about 9:30 a.m., city public works crews cleaned up garbage and volunteers were on hand to help homeless residents collect their belongings. A handful of the homeless were seen moving to Caltrans property underneath Interstate 580, where another eviction is planned for Thursday, according to a sign posted on one tent.

This weekend, thousands of punk rock fans are expected to flock to Mosswood park for the Burger Boogaloo festival.

Homeless advocate Talya Husbands-Hankin, also known as “Bootz,” said even though the city gave a 72-hour notice, several residents were caught off-guard and were not giving alternatives for where to move. She estimated that between 35 to 40 people lived throughout the North Oakland park near Kaiser Hospital, some for up to four years.

“The city is giving them absolutely no information about where they are allowed to go, they are just saying you cannot be here,” Husbands-Hankin said. “This is a pattern. They are criminalizing homeless people, forcing them to move and not giving them anywhere safe to go.”

The clearing of the North Oakland park follows similar closures of encampments on Northgate Avenue near Interstate 980, where a “Tuff Shed” community for the homeless was built, and Union Point Park in the Jingletown neighborhood, where authorities say police were frequently called for fights. Husbands-Hankin said people displaced from Union Point Park are now living across Embarcadero along train tracks.

“We have people now in a life-and-death situation that is a direct result of the city’s policies,” she said.