Las Vegas city marshals arrest a woman and Joe Sacco, who, with two other protesters on Tuesday, ignored an order closing Huntridge Circle Park. Citing safety concerns, City Manager Doug Selby ordered the closure of the park, the flash point in the city's dealings with the homeless. Photos by K.M. Cannon. A family passes by as Jonathan "Tiny" Quinn, who says he's homeless, eats a meal provided by homeless advocate Gail Sacco. Sacco, who used to feed the homeless inside Circle Park, handed out food across the street on Tuesday. Homeless advocates walk into the closed Huntridge Circle Park on Tuesday. Las Vegas marshals arrested four protesters who defied the city order Tuesday.

The battle over Huntridge Circle Park continued despite its closure on Tuesday, as Las Vegas marshals arrested four protesters who defied the city order.

With a U.S. flag draped around his neck, Joe Sacco and three other protesters sat cross-legged and arm-in-arm in the middle of the lawn at the 3-acre park.

A handful of marshals eyed the protesters. About 3:20 p.m., after several Las Vegas police arrived, the marshals arrested the protesters for violating the park closure and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors.

On Monday, City Manager Doug Selby had ordered the park closed, citing safety concerns and Friday's fatal stabbing of a homeless man in the park. Selby stood by his decision Tuesday, though he acknowledged that he did not do a comprehensive analysis of crime statistics comparing Circle Park with other city parks before he ordered the closure.

"This wasn't an analytical and methodical process. There are times when you have to exercise judgment," he said.

Later in the day, Gail Sacco, mother of Joe Sacco and a homeless advocate, identified the other three arrested protesters as Regina Colorado, a homeless woman; Charles Imboden, with the group Food Not Bombs; and Daniel Hernandez.

The city of Las Vegas could not confirm their names late Tuesday.

Diana Paul, a spokeswoman for the city, said the protesters were asked repeatedly to leave the park.

"They were warned several times and refused," she said. She said several others that had visited the park Tuesday were told to leave the park and complied.

Despite the city's contention that the closure is a safety issue, homeless and some advocates said it was meant to rid Circle Park of the dozens of homeless people who regularly gather there during the day.

Selby said closing the park temporarily, until a permanent fix could be figured out, was a last resort.

"We've paid a lot of special attention to Circle Park, and it didn't seem to be working," he said. And ideas such as posting marshals permanently at the park were not feasible.

"We really don't have enough resources to do that," he said. "We have officers over there all the time. And even with an officer posted at the park, this spontaneous incident of violence could have happened there. It was not an environment we were in control of."

Statistics from city marshals show one battery at the park between June 11 and November 10. In August, one homeless man hit another across the back with a four-foot-long wooden level.

In that same five-month period, there were four incidents of disturbing the peace, three drug violations, 20 alcohol citations or arrests, and 50 citations for violation of park closure rules, the marshals reported.

Crime statistics for other city parks weren't available Tuesday, officials said.

Residents said the homeless who spend their days in the park wander through the neighborhood. Residents blame them for home robberies and break-ins around the park, on Maryland Parkway south of Charleston Boulevard.

Within a one-quarter-mile radius of the park over the past 60 days, there have been 16 assaults or batteries, according to statistics from Las Vegas police. There were two assaults and batteries with a gun; and two more with other deadly weapons. There were six burglaries, nine fights and 75 other disturbances, according to the Police Department's Web site.

Friday's fatal stabbing by one homeless man of another sparked outrage in the neighboring community and helped prompt city officials to close the park temporarily.

Several neighbors said they were happy the park is closed.

"I can't use it anyway," Carlos Salazar said. "I can't take my 8-year-old son there. There are always fights breaking out, homeless people drinking. Hopefully, we'll get rid of some of the problems."

Another neighbor, who identified herself only as "Julia," said the park has a history of problems and is better off closed.

"This park has never been for the kids," she said. "I went to school nearby, and we couldn't come to the park even then. It was full of drug dealers. Now the homeless here are not nice people. They break into homes and steal bicycles."

But 17-year-old Jaime Lopez said he was disappointed by the closure because he can no longer walk his two Chihuahua-mix dogs through the park in the morning.

The homeless people who hang out at the park "are cool people," he said. "I talk to them. They are good people."

Critics say that closing the park will merely shuffle the homeless from one neighborhood to another.

"We've just been walking around in circles," said Marie, a 46-year-old homeless woman who declined to give her last name. "Every time we sit down the cops come around, and it scares me to death. I was praying they weren't going to arrest us."

Jonathan "Tiny" Quinn, who said he's been homeless about six weeks, said those who usually gather at the park have scattered.

"Some of us have been hanging out in an alley down the street," he said. "I don't have a clue where the rest are."

One elderly homeless man, who walks with a cane and normally spends his days at the park, agreed with the city's decision to close it.

"Too much has been happening," he said. "There are rapes, robberies, murders. Too much."

He said he wasn't sure where he will spend time now.

For months, Gail Sacco has brought food to the homeless in the park nearly every day.

Critics say she and others who hand out meals draw the homeless to the park, making it unusable for neighbors. A city ordinance banning giving food to indigents was declared unconstitutional earlier this month.

On Tuesday, Gail Sacco handed out plates of rice and beans across the street from the park. She said the park's closure won't stop her from feeding the needy.

"I'll just find out where they are and go there," she said. "If they need my help to get a meal, then I'll be there."

As they watched the arrests of the four protesters from outside the park, about a dozen other protesters, some of them homeless, carried signs that read, "It's not illegal to be homeless" and "Jesus was homeless."

"I respect him a lot for doing what he believes is right," Gail Sacco said of her son's arrest. "He really cares about poor people, oppressed people and social justice."

Sacco said at 6:30 p.m. her son was still in a holding cell and didn't expect to be released Tuesday. She didn't know the status of the others who were arrested.