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Dirty Bureaucrats and Hired Goons

Olympic Tent Village defends itself from an attack by the security state.

by Dan Kellar Dominion Stories, →2010 Olympics

Cops occupying an intersection early in the morning on March 1, 2010
Cops occupying an intersection early in the morning on March 1, 2010

Also posted by Jadis:

 At 2:30am on March 1st 2010, while drunken nationalists were fighting each other in the streets, Vancouver City Manager, Penny Ballem notified those who had been blockading Hastings St E (in front of the olympic tent village) that other “people have to get to work on Monday” so they have to “get off the road.” No matter that the olympics forced the closure of several major thoroughfares for an entire month (with many of them still ongoing), this sober and peaceful street party - complete with street soccer, musical acts and street art, could not continue. Consensus was sought within the blockade to decide their new course of action.

 As 4:30am rolled up, so did the VPD gang, complete with 13 vehicles, 40 goofs from the riot squad, an emergency response team fully loaded with M4 carbine assault rifles and 6 shooter tear gas cannons, 4 loudly barking dogs and their animal handlers, and 15-20 regular uninformed officers. This massive display of patriarchal force and dominance marched into the safe community zone that was established in the street, however, the blockaders had already cleared the road as they decided a 14 hour blockade of the olympic transportation infrastructure was enough to make their point – If the country can afford a 17 day party for the rich, then it can afford to build homes for those most vulnerable; if Canada can afford $100+ million to “own the podium” then surely housing for all is within the budget.

 When asked about the broken promises that the bid corporation (predecessor to the Vancouver Organizing Committee, or VANOC) made regarding social housing, both manager Ballem and the attending police representative tried to disassociate this direct action over housing from the larger issue of the transfer of wealth from the public domain which was accelerated due to the olympics.

 In stark violation to the negotiated agreement, and since the community did not give the blue goons a chance to bully people off the street, the riot squad decided they would try to force the peaceful community members off the sidewalk because, as a representative of the city's engineering core said: “other people need to use the sidewalk.” This escalation not only put those standing guard for their community at increased risk of state violence, but also risked the safety of all those sleeping within the tent village.

 When the security liaison started shaming the officials from the city of Vancouver for breaking their word of a peaceful disengagement, they warmed their hearts ever so slightly and ordered their thugs to end the assault. With Steam's celebrated song “Na na naa na, na na naa na, hey hey hey, good bye” the Olympic Resistance Network bid farewell to the “worst games ever” and the cops were stalled in the physical class war they undertake on behalf of their dishonourable masters.

 

 

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Comments

Dirty bureaxrats and hired goons!!

The brainwashed slaves must get to work in those
shiny but 100% deprieciating automobiles!!
Wait til thier house values plummet, PANIC PANIC!!!

Boo hoo

Get a job and go hug a tree. Boo hoo..if you spent as much time bettering yourself as you do whining perhaps you wouldnt be the down and out loser you are.

The Vancouver sun is

The Vancouver sun is reporting what a great job the police did

 Vancouver Deputy Police Chief Doug Le Pard even 'tips his hat' to Winston Churchill' in homage. What the fuck?

Wasn't WInston Churchill the one that said: 
"I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place."

Yes, that was Sir WInston Churchill in 1937. Nice to know that Vancouver Deputy Police Chief Doug LePard is a fan of one of the biggest racist political leaders the west has ever known. Real good LePard, real good...

Re: Winston Churchill

What's interesting about Winston Churchill is that his mother, the American socialite Jenny Jerome, was of First Nations ancestry. There's a biography that came out about 25 years ago which shows photographs of her side of the family.

get a job

Haha. looks like someone set up a tent in the middle of the road and police are preventing them getting run over. If this olympics taught me and my friends anything, its that the people who are trying to `help`the poor are just a bunch of tree hugging vandals, and the true help comes from doctors on the DTES, police, and social assistance advocates.

Ive lost a lot of respect for pivot, and all the other groups that ``trying to help``, and I know there are many others who feel the same.

To: get a job and boo hoo

Do you guys know anything or do you just sit on your ass watching CTV go out there to the protests and to the homeless and speak to them instead of ignoring them and maybe your IQ will raise to 2

To Boo Hoo and Get a Job

Thanks for the report Dan!  To Boo Hoo and Get a Job - I'm totally confused...comments like yours are common on CBC or CTV and whatnot where there is never any coverage, perspecitive, or analysis.  But you're commenting on the media coop website, that actually offers an alternative analysis and you still can't see past the CTV blinders?  Take off your bloody red Bay mittons and navigate through the resources on this website!

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