photos and story from Pete Rockwell:
According to Kristen Woodruff, the protest campers at Centennial Square had reached an amicable understanding with the Downtown Business Association to move thier camp out of the way in plenty of time for the DBA'S planned lighting of the Christmas tree [Friday night].
[Friday morning,] Jonathan LeDrew, along with a couple of supporters had started moving thier tents and belongings down to the covered area a couple of hundred feet away. In spite of this, eight to ten police and bylaw officers moved in and arrested David Johnston and Tavis Dodds. They then went back and removed the remaining tent.
All of the campers possesions were loaded on to a city truck and driven away [aka stolen].
update from Janine:
i spoke with kristen friday morning - she confirmed that david and tavis had made it known that they would remove their tents by 11 am, but the cops arrived at 9 am anyways and arrested them. the cops stole everything, again, so the tenters are tentless and without sleeping bags, again. the campers intend to return to the site, they'd really appreciate donations of tenting equipment. large cardboard boxes, especially those with wax coating are also useful for shelter purposes.
in case you hadn't heard, the last time david and tavis and kristen and jonathan were arrested for attempting to protect themselves from the elements by way of a tent city, the judge dismissed the charges. welcome to the police state, where men in uniform exert authority they don't actually have. isn't patriarchy fun! bring on the witch burnings and stonings!
in other news, the mayor's alleged coalition to end homelessness has been in operation for a year. apparently their successes consist of creating a strategic report document, employing three people, and establishing an office down the street from our place. they have no provincial or federal representation on their board and one of their token street representatives is currently homeless - the coalition seems incapable of providing even him with a roof overhead.
on thursday past i spoke with a woman from olympia's fully functional tent city (the audio is available here). in olympia there are now eight churches involved in sharing the responsibility for the camp. what are victoria's good christians doing? are they aware that david and tavis are also christians? but most of city hall and the police hate them, though some in the justice system appreciate them. if only a couple of good christian folk would get up off their pews, take the train to olympia and/or portland and convince themselves it's possible (amtrak goes daily, it's about $50 from vancouver), and then get city hall on board like they've done in other cities. it's not that difficult. or is it okay to watch these good people be continually harassed and arrested for their attempts to establish a safe community for all the homeless people 'the system' continues to create?
and lastly .... who's robbing the banks when all the bully cops are busy busting the homeless?
more of Pete's photos are online here.
