UPDATE: By 9 p.m. Vancouver Police Department officers cleared the intersection of protestors and tents. Arrests were made, according to protestor Siiam Hamilton.
A large group of people blocked the intersection of Main and Hastings streets Wednesday afternoon, protesting acts of police brutality upon homeless people in Vancouver.
More specifically, demonstrators were camped out in tents shortly before 7 p.m.
Tent City at Hastings St. & Main St.
— Mark Teasdale ★ (@MarksGonePublic) October 15, 2020
Street Closed @NEWS1130Traffic pic.twitter.com/vMOFH8v9RL
“We’re resisting the ongoing suppression of the most vulnerable peoples and those we should be holding up rather than pushing down,” said Strathcona tent city resident and organizer, Chrissy Brett, in a news release.
Carnegie Community Action Project organized the demonstration – which comes at the heels of proposed municipal solutions to provide shelter for the more than 400 people currently living in a tent encampment in Strathcona Park.
Back in June, Brett told Vancouver Is Awesome the tent city near Crab Park was one of the few places homeless people could safely go without danger of daily street sweeps, destroying or removing their belongings.
“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.
After the Crab Park encampment was dismantled this summer due to a Supreme Court Injunction, many of its former residents came to Strathcona.
Demonstrators plan to occupy the convergence overnight, demanding better treatment from police.
