At about 11:30AM today, I walked over to St. James Park to see the eviction of Occupy Toronto from the park. Adelaide and Jarvis were closed to traffic.
The mud and tents reminded me of being at Woodstock ’94, minus the rock and roll (and warmth of August).
Police were watching as City of Toronto sanitation crews removed tents, sleeping bags and 5 weeks of everything else.
Along a closed Jarvis Street, media and more police waited.
Things got more tense as the removal of more fortified (and occupied) structures began.
Police cordoned off the area being removed as crowds gathered around the edges.
Officer with megaphone reads eviction notice (I assume — could not hear) to people chained on ground to structure. They were then carried away in the only physical confrontation I saw (there were reports of a few other arrests like this — 11 in all).
Fortified gazebo.
The fortified library yurt. People climbed out of it, one after another, like it was a clown car for a spell. The fella in the last picture had chained himself to the structure.
As before, police surrounded the fortified gazebo before dismantling.
A human conveyor belt was formed to remove (save) the books from the Library yurt.
This man blew his world cup horn often.
In its final stand, Occupy Toronto managed to create a huge financial district traffic jam during the largely peaceful eviction and clean up.
4 comments
I didn’t know the guys even had their own library! That is so typical, culture and ideas evicted by brute force. Instead of throwing the Occupy movement followersout from the parks, we should let them in the city halls and listen to them speaking about inequality in our cities and their proposed solutions. Hope the message of the Occupy will last.
I really agree with some or most of what the Toronto protesters against inequality are saying, but on the other hand I think it was quite predictable that the judge would order them out of park. A right to protest is one thing, but a right to use public spaces is another.
I was kind of surprised that Spacing hadn’t had coverage / analysis of the Occupy movement before this.
I haven’t read the legal arguments, but it seems like “occupation” was a pretty core part of the political expression here. Being hard to ignore was part of the point.
Begun in peace. Existed in peace. Ended in peace! Congrats to all!