Occupy Toronto says movement isn’t dead
‘You can’t evict an idea,’ protester says as mayor praises peaceful park dismantling
CBC News
November 24, 2011
Occupy Toronto protesters say their movement did not die when police dismantled their tents and ended a five-week occupation of a downtown park on Wednesday.
City workers were busy Thursday cleaning St. James Park, the site of an Occupy Toronto encampment since Oct. 15. Some residents visited the park for the first time since the protest began.
While enforcing an eviction order, police working with about 100 city workers cleared the tents and other belongings on Wednesday.
Occupy Toronto protest site cleared
Mayor declares protest over; 11 arrested
CBC News
November 23, 2011
The Occupy Toronto encampment has come to a peaceful end with protesters vacating the last occupied tent in St. James Park after a negotiated settlement with police.
Mayor Rob Ford said in a late afternoon news conference that he was proud of city staff and police for the job they did in the park on Wednesday, and warned protesters they would not be able to relocate.
“The protest is over and I’d like to keep it that way,” he said. “And if they do go to another park, we will ask them to leave immediately.”
FULL ARTICLE HERE…
Occupy Vancouver looking beyond tent-city model of protest
Matthew Black
Globe and Mail
November 23, 2011
Occupy Vancouver decided Wednesday afternoon to temporarily abandon public occupations in favour of regular meetings after the group was forced indoors for the first time the previous evening.
The decision was made by an assembly of approximately 50 protesters who returned to Grandview Park after heavy rainfall and the park’s 10 p.m. closing time left them with nowhere to occupy Tuesday night.
A second general assembly was planned for 7 p.m. Wednesday on the grounds of the Vancouver Art Gallery, the site of the initial Occupy Vancouver protests in October.
Court injunctions forced protesters to abandon their sites at the Art Gallery and the Robson Square law courts, on Monday and Tuesday respectively.
Protesters had camped out in downtown Vancouver since Oct. 15.
Vancouver Park Board Deputy General Manager Peter Kuran was at Grandview Park on Wednesday. He addressed the assembly by reading out loud parks control bylaw 8 (b), which states that written permission from the general manager of the Parks and Recreation Board is legally required to hold a public gathering in a city park.
Occupy Vancouver camp disbands after failed move
CBC
November 22, 2011
The Occupy Vancouver camp finally disbanded on Tuesday night, after five long weeks and after several dozen of the remaining protesters failed to establish a new camp at Grandview Park on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver.
The protesters took the SkyTrain to the park on Tuesday evening after they were evicted from the provincial courthouse grounds downtown at Robson Square by police.
Upon their arrival in Grandview park they were met by local residents, police and city officials who told them they were not welcome to set up camp in the park.
FULL ARTICLE HERE…
Occupy Toronto Eviction Update (video)
Press For Truth
November 23, 2011
Occupy Montrealers start removing tents
City issues order to vacate “immediately”
CBC News
November 24, 2011
Occupy Montreal protesters started tearing down camp Thursday afternoon after the city asked them to vacate Victoria Square on the spot.
Police posted a second round of eviction notices Thursday morning that were more strongly worded than a previous warning issued the previous night.
Thursday’s notice asked occupiers to vacate “immediately.”
A city spokesman says Montreal wants the campers to leave on their own, but he adds that necessary measures will be taken if required.
“We have indicated that the period of tolerance towards the protesters at the campground is over and that we will apply the city’s existing bylaws,” Gonzalo Nunez said on Thursday. “We’re still working on convincing the protesters to act on a voluntary basis.”
Crackdown on Occupy Canada encampments
Carl Bronski
WSWS
November 21, 2011
Toronto
About 2,000 supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement in Toronto marched from the protesters’ encampment in St. James Park to City Hall on Saturday. The demonstration was in response to efforts currently underway by the administration of right-wing mayor Rob Ford to evict several hundred people occupying the park. Ford has already garnered significant opposition from working people in Toronto for his agenda of privatizations, wholesale layoffs and massive cuts to social services.
Protesters in the crowd were quick to link these attacks with the move to curtail the democratic rights of the occupiers. Despite a “no politics” mantra promulgated by elements within the Occupy movement, the possibility of occupying threatened libraries, public housing units and workplaces was being raised on the march by a section of community activists and workers.
The “Evict Rob Ford” march comes on the heels of a concerted effort by municipal officials to shut down Occupy encampments across Canada. In the previous 10 days, police have moved in to evict protesters in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, London, Ontario, and in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where 14 arrests were made. Police were poised Sunday night to remove scores of demonstrators in Edmonton, Alberta. In Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, orders enabling evictions in the coming week have been issued by the provincial court.
FULL ARTICLE HERE…
(hat tip: Mostly Water)
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