SAN JOSE, Calif. – Police and social-workers on Thursday began clearing away one of the nation’s largest homeless encampments, a cluster of flimsy tents and plywood shelters that once housed more than 200 people in the heart of California’s wealthy Silicon Valley.

Authorities have been trying for years to resolve problems at the camp known as the Jungle, including violence and unsanitary conditions.

By Thursday morning, about 60 people were left at the muddy, garbage-strewn site where crews started dismantling the crude structures.

On Monday, people living in the camp were given until Thursday to leave or face arrest for trespassing.

Nancy Ortega sobbed as she watched tractors load garbage into trash trucks. Then a passing motorist shouted at those who had just been evicted.

“People drive by and look at us like we’re circus animals,” she said.

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