4 arrested after protesters, tents block traffic in Vancouver to demonstrate against police action
About two dozen people occupied a Downtown Eastside intersection at Vancouver's Main and Hastings streets on Wednesday in opposition to police action that they say unfairly targets homeless people.
Protesters began demonstrating on Wednesday around noon and by evening had set up a small number of tents in the middle of the street, which resulted in transit buses being rerouted to avoid the area.
Just before 10 p.m. PT, the tents had been cleared and traffic was flowing again.
The group was made of up of advocates for homeless people, Strathcona tent city campers and people living in the Downtown Eastside.
They issued a news release saying they are signalling "their resistance to ongoing police violence and the justice systems' colonized violence."
On Wednesday night, a Vancouver Police Department spokesperson said officers were on scene monitoring the protest, but the demonstration remained peaceful.
A later statement from police said "the majority" of people left the area but four people were arrested: three for breach of the peace and another for obstruction.
Concerns about crime and aggressive behaviour have been growing in the Strathcona area adjacent to the Downtown Eastside after a tent city was established in a neighbourhood park. The encampment quickly expanded and hundreds of people are now living there.
The tent city was the subject of a special Vancouver city council meeting on Oct. 7, which resulted in unanimous agreement to spend $30 million to shelter people from the encampment in empty hotels, apartments, hostels and commercial buildings.
The VPD had previously ramped up patrols in the Strathcona area after receiving complaints about stolen property and violence.
Chrissy Brett, a camp liaison and matriarch, said in the release that the protest is against the suppression of vulnerable people.
"Indigenous people and homeless people have been brutalized and had their rights trampled on for generations and we need this to stop now," said Brett.
