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Occupy Toronto (pg. 31)
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| Yohan |
| they got sick of being cold and wet? lol |
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| FunkyCrew |
just love the costs these peeps are inducing on the city :rolleyes:
| quote: | They have muddied parks, overtaken public squares and clashed with police. But while Canada’s Occupy protesters may be wearing out their welcome, nobody has figured out how to get rid of them.
Although the encampments are violating bylaws, damaging public land, and in some cases, prompting public health concerns, confrontation-shy municipalities are finding themselves increasingly powerless, or at least unwilling, to remove them.
Alberta’s two largest cities have arguably taken the hardest line against occupiers — although both have failed to negotiate an end to the protests. Toronto protesters have angered neighbours of the downtown park they are camping in, prompting the church next to the site to plead with the protesters to “respect the members of the community who live and work in the area.”
In Vancouver, protesters have turned the front lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery into a muddy pit, with protesters now digging trenches to divert water away from campsites. In police resources alone, the protests cost $390,000 in the first five days.
With the protest entering its 10th day, the total city costs of the protest could easily be more than $1-million, but the city is simply trying to negotiate an end.
“The cities that have gone in swinging have created havoc,” Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson wrote in an email to Postmedia this week. “They say that intervening physically is the wrong approach and would jeopardize the peaceful resolution we’re working on.”
Mr. Robertson says he will not forcibly disperse the protesters unless they become a public health problem. “We would like to end it peacefully and with respect,” the Vancouver mayor told reporters.
With less than four weeks to go before the mayoral election, Mr. Robertson’s main challenger, Suzanne Anton, has attempted to make the occupied park an election issue. “The tents should never have been allowed to set up,” she said last week.
Since Oct. 15, protesters in more than a dozen Canadian cities have set up tent camps in urban areas to call for, among other things, increased economic equality. The demonstrations — like 1,000 similar protests around the world — were spurred by Occupy Wall Street demonstrations that began September 17 in New York City.
In Edmonton, protesters were given three warnings over the weekend to vacate Churchill Square. After protesters failed to comply, the park’s owner, Melcor, instead asked them simply to leave the square at night. “We are of the opinion that weather, health and safety are growing concerns and that organizers may be placing vulnerable individuals at risk,” read a Monday letter.
Last week, Calgary officials took their first step against the Occupy Calgary protest by ordering protesters to decamp from a park in the city’s downtown. Nevertheless, protesters have indicated that they will simply relocate to another protest camp already ongoing on nearby St. Patrick’s Island. Protesters have been tentatively cleared to remain at the out-of-sight park until the end of the month.
In Toronto, public calls to evict Occupy Bay Street protesters encamped next to St. James’ Cathedral prompted Very Rev. Douglas Stoute, rector of the cathedral, to come to their defence. “We believe that we are blessed to live in a society where peaceful conversation can take place publicly,” he wrote in a Monday letter that acknowledged the “frustration” of some neighbours to the camp. “We have no power to evict the protesters … but even if we did have that power, we would be very reluctant to invoke it,” he added.
Across the Atlantic, Mr. Stoute’s position was shared by Rt Rev. Graeme Knowles, dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England, where protesters have set up camp in the churchyard. Mr. Knowles, however, soon came to regret it. Last Thursday, the increasing masses of protesters forced officials to close the cathedral for the first time since the Second World War.
Ultimately, with prairie cities already beginning to experience freezing temperatures, Canadian municipalities may simply be hoping that protests will peter out as winter arrives. In Winnipeg, however, occupiers near the Manitoba Legislature have begun winterizing their camp with a fire pit and an insulated kitchen. Protesters say they intend to stay put until at least into the new year.
Warm coastal weather has given Vancouver and Victoria more experience with entrenched protests than their colder Canadian counterparts. For eight years, from 2001 to 2009, Falun Gong protesters occupied a protest hut outside Vancouver’s Chinese consulate. In 2002, after the election of a Liberal majority in B.C. under Gordon Campbell, street youth set up a protest camp on the grounds of the B.C. legislature complete with a vegetable garden and fire pit. The camp was ultimately dismantled after female campers began dancing topless on the legislature grounds.
In Victoria, in particular, tents on public property have been a common site since a 2008 B.C. Supreme Court ruling that permitted homeless people to encamp on public land. An Occupy Victoria camp complete with couches and tables has been established on the steps of city hall, but Victoria police say they have no plans to forcibly dismantle the camp. “We’re not trying to have an adversarial relationship,” Victoria Police spokesman Const. Mike Russell told Postmedia last week.
In the United States, officials have been more aggressive in dispersing protesters. In Oakland, California on Tuesday, a downtown protest camp was cleared in less than 15 minutes by an early morning raid of police armed with tear gas and sound cannons. |
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| LightsOut |
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| Orko |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
just love the costs these peeps are inducing on the city :rolleyes:
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If this is the cost of bring the issues up, then I am willing to pay higher fees in the city. |
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| PivotTechno |
| quote: | Originally posted by Skipper
So what is going on with the protests in Toronto the last week or so? Haven't heard much about them at all. |
Evidently they've stationed themselves at St. James Gardens. I fully understand the need for these protests (which imho should be focused firmly on U.S. banking and regulatory practices), but how anyone could think that King and Jarvis would be a suitable location to mount a campaign against the world's financial behemoths is beyond my comprehension.
Like, dumb. |
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| FunkyCrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by Orko
If this is the cost of bring the issues up, then I am willing to pay higher fees in the city. |
I'm sure as hell not.
This
| quote: | | In Vancouver, protesters have turned the front lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery into a muddy pit, with protesters now digging trenches to divert water away from campsites. In police resources alone, the protests cost $390,000 in the first five days. |
is bull.
| quote: | Originally posted by PivotTechno
Evidently they've stationed themselves at St. James Gardens. I fully understand the need for these protests (which imho should be focused firmly on U.S. banking and regulatory practices), but how anyone could think that King and Jarvis would be a suitable location to mount a campaign against the world's financial behemoths is beyond my comprehension.
Like, dumb. |
yup and yup. |
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| DeleteFromUsers |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
I'm sure as hell not. |
Of course we're all aware that the 2008 subprime crisis cost the world some $7,700,000,000,000 right?
Superficially it's a foolish comparison, but I think the Occupy Movement has been pretty tame overall. See the United States Constitution, Second Amendment. |
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| FunkyCrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by DeleteFromUsers
See the United States Constitution, Second Amendment. |
we are in Canada :) |
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| Endlesswave |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
we are in Canada :) |
So everything is perfect. :p |
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| DeleteFromUsers |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
we are in Canada :) |
Indeed. I'd wager that the protests here are mostly for solidarity with US and European protests. We've got it pretty good here compared to those guys. Just wish American politicians would quit messing with our economy by wrecking their own. |
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| FunkyCrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by Endlesswave
So everything is perfect. :p |
that's the thing - I might be awfully wrong but I just got a feeling that these guys jumped the protesting bandwagon "just because"
on top of it all, I could be terribly ignorant but I can hardly relate to a lot of the things they're making the noise about
I know that this is a "only care about what's happening in my own back yard" attitude but I cannot help it.. |
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| DeleteFromUsers |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
that's the thing - I might be awfully wrong but I just got a feeling that these guys jumped the protesting bandwagon "just because"
on top of it all, I could be terribly ignorant but I can hardly relate to a lot of the things they're making the noise about
I know that this is a "only care about what's happening in my own back yard" attitude but I cannot help it.. |
We do about $1.25b of trade with the US... Per day.
Take a look at the impact on the manufacturing and resources sectors (in Canada). We got, and are getting, whacked. This affects every single Canadian. |
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