200 Protest Police Repression in Vancouver

On January 22, 2010, approximately 200 people participated in a protest against police repression in Vancouver.

The crowd gathered at Victory Square where speeches were made before taking to the streets. The march passed through the Downtown Eastside, playing loud music on a PA system and lighting flaming torches. The rally disrupted traffic and blocked the intersection at Main & Hastings streets. It dispersed at Thornton Park, near the Main Street Skytrain station. There were no arrests.

Only ten or so bicycle cops accompanied the protest. As the rally ended, two plainclothes members of the RCMP's Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit (VISU) Joint Intelligence Group (JIG) were confronted by some 20 protesters, some of whom had been harassed by VISU over the past year. Vancouver bike cops moved in to protect the frightened Mounties.

Video from Jan 22, 2010, Solidarity Against Police Repression Rally in Vancouver
Produced by the Vancouver Media Coop

* The two plainclothes cops confronted at the end of the video are members of the RCMP's Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit (VISU) Joint Intelligence Group (JIG). The older white male wearing the black jacket is Ken Stolarchuk, the RCMP officer who threatened Gord Hill with 'extraordinary rendition' last October 2009. His telephone number is 604-264-2972, fax: 604-264-3151

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/2517

Traffic disrupted, torches lit at anti-Olympic protest

http://ubyssey.ca/news/150-gather-for-anti-olympic-protest
Anti-Olympic protesters march down Hastings Street with torches and fliers.
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
By Jonny Wakefield, jwakefield@ubyssey.ca

People from all walks of life met at Victory Square on West Hastings and
Cambie to protest the Olympic police crackdown, the displacement of the
homeless and the Games themselves, in what is only to be the first of many
large anti-Olympic demonstrations in the city.

The demonstration Friday night, called “Solidarity in the face of police
repression,” began at 6pm with speeches and songs from anti-Games
activists. There were several Vancouver Police Department officers on
bikes standing by.

The mass then moved from the park onto East Hastings Street, and towards
Main. Protesters formed around a pickup truck, and a few lit torches. When
the demonstration reached Main Street just after 7pm, protesters formed up
in the intersection and blocked traffic in all four directions, holding up
anti-Olympic banners towards motorists.

VPD officers followed the mass, and directed traffic. There were no
observed altercations between police and protesters.

Among the demonstrators were a few students, including AMS President Blake
Frederick, Student Legal Fund Society President Emily Griffiths, and UBC
alumnus and former VP External Stefanie Ratjen.

After blocking the Main and Hastings intersection for several minutes, the
demonstration moved down Main Street. The march ended around 7:45pm in
front of Pacific Central Station. An organizer announced plans for a
similar protest, to begin at the station on the morning of February 13,
the day after the Olympic opening ceremonies.

For more on this protest, see the Monday Issue of The Ubyssey.