Homeless protesters have started packing up and leaving a makeshift camp in City Square after being asked to "voluntarily move on" by Melbourne City Council.
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For the past month, up to 30 people have remained at the makeshift campsite in City Square on the corner of Collins and Swanston streets to highlight the problem of homelessness in Melbourne.
A week ago, protesters said they would not move from the square until housing was provided for all people sleeping rough across the city. They also called for a 24-hour drop-in centre to be created in the CBD.
But in a statement sent to Fairfax Media shortly before 5pm on Monday, the council said it had asked protesters to leave the square.
"City of Melbourne has requested via a letter that the remaining group at City Square voluntarily move on today," the statement said.
"Some people have responded and moved on already, while others are in the process of packing up and moving on. We are allowing the group a reasonable amount of time to respond, pack their belongings and move on."
In late May one of the protesters, Allan Langer, also known as Asha, said he had been camping at the City Square for three weeks. The protesters had received "amazing" encouragement from concerned members of the public, he said.
"People have been so generous, it gives us the encouragement to keep on going," Asha said.
"I'm here for the long haul, until I see in the papers - housing provided for all. I'd like everybody in Melbourne, all around Australia, to be housed."
Last month the City of Melbourne ordered that a milk-crate protest camp at the site be pulled down, not long before some of the protesters decided to move back to a regular camp, next to the huge concrete podiums under the rail viaduct at Enterprize Park.
