Sanitation workers in protective suits have started cleaning up the 10-block heart of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/Lf8vD1) says before work started, health workers posted notices and contacted homeless people, asking them to move their belongings.

Conditions among the nation's densest population of homeless people are so bad they violate the county's health code.

The three-week cleanup that started Tuesday will get rid of rats' nests, hypodermic needles, condoms, human excrement and other hazards. Weekly inspections will follow.

A federal court injunction last year placed limits on the removal of unattended items, but doesn't prevent removal of items that pose health risks.

Activists say the city deliberately allowed conditions to deteriorate to bolster its case against the injunction. Officials deny that claim.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com