[news] COPE Park's Board Chair Criticizes Cops for Not Removing Squatters

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-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Calvin Woida <calvinwoida at hotmail.com>
To: apc-ctte at lists.resist.ca, copb-van-l at lists.resist.ca, gflett1 at shaw.ca, irv at sfu.ca, streetpoet77 at hotmail.com
Subject: [copb-van-l] COPE Park's Board Chair Criticizes Cops for Not Removing Squatters
Date: 06 Sep 2003 20:20:25 -0700


For those who missed it, here is COPE Park's Board Chair Heather Deal's 
solution to the problem of homelessness:  don't wait for an injunction, just 
have the cops throw them out right now (by the way, the Creekside squatters 
have written two letters to the Mayor, City Councillors, and Park's Board 
Commissioners, including Deal, requesting formal permission to stay in 
Creekside Park; so far, they have not received a reply):


Parks chair wants police to remove squatters

By Sandra Thomas-Staff writer

The chair of the parks board is criticizing police for not removing illegal 
squatters from city parks, though they have the power to do so even without 
a court injunction.

Heather Deal says the city has a bylaw dictating that parks be closed from 
10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and prohibiting tents or temporary structures of any kind.

"We aren't asking police to roust homeless people off benches," she said. 
"What we do want them to do in these situations is to enforce the bylaw 
that's already in place.

"It hasn't been a public safety issue so I guess the police are holding 
back. Nobody wants to be the heavy on this one."

Last week, squatters from Thornton Park moved across the street to Creekside 
Park next to Science World after they were served with a court injunction to 
move or face criminal contempt of court charges.

Some of those squatters were part of the original protest group that started 
a tent city at Victory Square in June to protest a lack of affordable 
housing in the city and provincial welfare cuts.

Part of that group also moved to Crab Park, also known as Portside Park.

Spokeswoman Const. Sarah Bloor said while police are carefully monitoring 
the situation at Creekside and Crab parks, they won't forcibly remove the 
squatters unless they receive an enforcement order from the courts.

She said police have a longstanding tradition of not disrupting non-violent 
protests, preferring to wait and see whether protesters respond to a court 
injunction.

Should a court-ordered injunction fail to dislodge the squatters, police 
could move in after an enforcement order was in place.

"But in the past 20 years police have never done that," Bloor said. "This is 
a problem the parks board is going to have to address. We are bound to 
follow a process of community standards and we would only get involved as a 
last resort."

But Deal suspects police have been reluctant to get involved because they 
don't want to look aggressive or unsympathetic to the protesters. She noted 
the department is already fighting an image problem after several 
high-profile accusations of use of excessive force.

While public safety hasn't been at risk in the parks so far, Deal pointed to 
indications of escalating violence and aggression towards media and the 
public from the Creekside protesters. Last week, a TV crew filmed an 
incident where a squatter punched a man on a bicycle so hard, he knocked his 
helmet off.

"If anybody is yelled at, spit on or touched we're asking them to call 
police immediately," she said. "We need to get these guys that are causing 
the trouble."

Bloor said a man has been charged with assault in that incident.

"We did seize a videotape and a criminal charge has been filed," she said. 
"It's the exact same procedure we would have done if something like this 
happened at other protests

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