Police and volunteer crews Wednesday morning removed an entrenched homeless encampment across the street from the Hawai‘i Convention Center, a key meeting site for next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

The campers were cleared from the area near the former Hard Rock Cafe restaurant across Kalakaua Avenue from the convention center in the three-hour operation.

City and state officials have been working with service providers for weeks to notify homeless people that landowner PBS Hawaii wanted to clean up its 28,000-square-foot parcel where a recycling business operates, said Leslie Wilcox, president and chief executive officer of PBS Hawaii.

PBS Hawaii originally had hoped to have the homeless people relocated months ago and Wednesday’s operation had nothing to do with next week’s APEC conference, Wilcox said.

"We really wanted to get this done much earlier and our original target date was months ago," Wilcox said. "… It’s not a place to live. It’s a business zone and we want to take care of business as well as be compassionate. It was the rapidly growing size of that encampment and sanitation issues that bothered neighbors. That’s why we’ve been working with representatives from the state, city, social service agencies and the police."

Volunteers from the Institute for Human Services’ Civic Engagement Program used IHS’ flatbed truck Wednesday to help cart away belongings, IHS spokeswoman Kate Record said.

IHS had space for 40 men and 10 women in its shelters Wednesday, but it’s unknown how many of the people removed from the PBS site will take advantage of the openings, said Connie Mitchell, IHS’ executive director.

IHS is frequently contacted by landowners who want help relocating homeless people from their properties, Mitchell said.

"A lot of landowners are hesitant to make moves because they really are concerned about the people who are living there," she said. "They genuinely want to help. They don’t want to be ousting the homeless."

No one would estimate how many homeless lived at the site, but state Rep. Tom Brower, (D, Waikiki, Ala Moana), said he saw about 10 people removed from the site Wednesday morning.

During the summer, Brower heard testimony from city and state officials that neither the state nor city conduct homeless "sweeps" and that no homeless removal operations were planned because of APEC.

"Government in good conscience has to believe it doesn’t do sweeps," Brower said. "It doesn’t matter to me. What is important is that we have a clear policy. And the right thing to do is to have cleanups on a regular basis. We have to protect the streets, the parks and the beaches."