Vancouver demands Occupy protesters take down unoccupied tents

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Occupy Vancouver has been given an ultimatum: take down all unoccupied tents, overhead tarps and canopies over tent entrances by 10 a.m. PT Friday or fire safety inspectors will do it themselves.

In the city's first move to restrict the encampment since tents were erected on the plaza outside the Vancouver Art Gallery almost three weeks ago, Vancouver fire Chief John McKearney told reporters that the fire department realized safety had been compromised Thursday when they had to rescue a man at the encampment who suffered a non-fatal heroin overdose.

The demands of the city order were read before the general assembly at Occupy Vancouver late Thursday. The assembly received them with boos and downturned thumbs.

"Fight for the right to fight," was one call that raised raucous applause from the crowd.

Globe reporters tweet from Occupy Vancouver

The Occupy Vancouver legal committee advised occupiers not to sign any papers or forms presented to them by the city and contested any assertion that the movement had actually received the order from the fire department. They said any such order would need to be received during the general assembly.

The committee then advised occupants to sign copies of a form letter addressed to the City of Vancouver that, among other things, insisted that the city: "Make no attempt to censure, coerce, or entice me into leaving except upon my own free will, and as part of the larger global Occupy Movement."

As the general assembly drew to a close around 9 p.m. one occupier reminded the crowd of a standing tent city policy: should police attempt to take the camp, occupiers should use their bodies, rather than weapons, to prevent them from crossing the line.

Despite the talk at the general assembly, Raven Feraru, an occupier who runs the accessibility and disability committee, was optimistic the camp could heed the city order.

"We've got to do what the fire department wants us to do," he said, adding that members of the infrastructure committee were planning to string up an elevated canopy that would take the place of tarps.

Fire Chief McKearney said earlier Thursday that the fire department will work together with Occupy Vancouver to increase visibility, ventilation and fire safety. If some protesters refuse to co-operate, "We will remove them ourselves," he said.

Not many tents need to be removed, he added. The fire department is looking for just enough room for fire lanes around each tent, he said. "The proximity of the tents creates the biggest problem for us," he said.

The city's shift in approach to Occupy Vancouver does not include a deadline to take down the tents and force the protesters to leave the site.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson told reporters he wanted an end to the encampment, but the city would not force the protesters to leave the plaza. He would like to see the confrontation resolved "without going in heavy," he said. The city was looking to increased enforcement of city bylaws, he said.

The mayor said he was prepared for the process to take "as long as it takes to end sensible and without violence." Giving deadlines has made the problem worse in every other city that has done it, he said. "Ultimately, deadlines have not been successful."

Almost 100 tents are set up on the plaza, but the number of protesters staying in the tents was not clear at the time of the announcement. Staff at the information tent said they are now doing a census of tents and protesters.

Mr. Feraru said numbers were hard to estimate but guessed the tents were 90-per-cent full at any time in the evenings.

Jessi Zapton has been camped out at Vancouver's Occupy site since the day the protest began. "You can't really do a tent test on one night," she said, adding that people come and go from the site regularly.

Anthony Popov, a member of the peacekeeping committee, said "usually when there are free tents at night, we try to get them occupied, because there's lots of people without tents."

Mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton renewed her call for immediate action to close down Occupy Vancouver. "The issue is not the people, the issue is the tents and the continued use of that site," she said.

"People can have their say as long as they want, but it is not right to have this continuing tent occupation of this public space," Ms. Anton said.

Meanwhile, members of the Falun Gong religious sect announced Thursday that they are rekindling their long-running legal battle with the City of Vancouver over their right to protest. The Falun Dafa Association of Vancouver asked the B.C. Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional a bylaw that members of the spiritual movement allege restricts their right to protest.

Sue Zhang, the association's spokeswoman, said it's "unfair" for the city to prevent the Falun Gong from erecting structures outside the Chinese consulate overnight while the Occupiers are allowed to keep their encampment up indefinitely beside the art gallery.

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, told reporters the city had "a double-standard." Under the bylaw, the Falun Gong must take their protest hut outside the Chinese consulate down at 8 p.m. They must get a licence every 30 days, and 30 days must pass before a permit can be renewed.

Mayor Robertson said later the Falun Gong protest was "completely different." The Falun Gong protest was on a public sidewalk and Occupy Vancouver is in a plaza. The city bylaw that applies to Falun Gong does not apply to the Occupy Vancouver protest, he said.