Squatters Ousted

Well, the police gave those squatters the boot yesterday afternoon. It was a reasonably peaceful event, and the cops had the decency to forego the riot gear and tear gas unlike those buffoons in Victoria. They also did it in the middle of the afternoon, when they could have done it at 3am, and avoided the cameras. So that's all fine. The squatters themselves were quite clear that their issue is not with cops, but with our NPA government who had falsely promised to create one social housing building per year while instead they helped hundreds of people enter life on the streets by letting buildings close down.

After the cops had taken away the six activist squatters (Sam Sullivan never made his guest appearance as requested), the crowd migrated down the street to occupy the Main and Hastings intersection (between the cop shop and the Carnegie Centre) where some First Nations women led some song, and people hung out in a large circle of solidarity with the removed squatters.

Well, apparently it took an illegal squat to get the media to notice Vancouver's shameful treatment of its low income people. And it looks as if more is to come, as promised by the Anti-Poverty Committee. Check out this article in the Tyee for some excellent commentary and links.

In the meantime, Mayor Sam loves getting emails, if you'd like to say your hellos.

Images courtesy of Agent Humble.