Two protesters with Occupy Vancouver hug after they moved their camp to occupy the court house in Vancouver, Nov. 21, 2011.JOHN LEHMANN/THE GLOE AND MAIL
While defiant anarchists in Toronto donned chains to fight off eviction, protesters in Vancouver did something entirely different. Tents came down, only to pop up elsewhere, at a sprawling provincially owned complex that includes B.C. court facilities.
By late Monday afternoon, Occupy Vancouver's five-week old encampment at the Art Gallery had ended in response to a court injunction to leave by 2 p.m. Monday, and more than a score of tents went up at the new Robson Square location.
The quick movement caught authorities off guard, and police did not interfere with the new encampment, now a possible headache for B.C. Premier Christy Clark. Protesters indicated a determination to stay. "We need to bring more tents, so we can hold this place," one volunteer said to loud cheers.
The move prompted the B.C. government to announce it will seek an injunction on Tuesday to end the new occupation. Attorney General Shirley Bond wasted little time seeking to remove tents from the court entrance, announcing she will ask for remedy shortly after learning of the new Occupy target.
"It is essential that we ensure the public has access to the courts," Ms. Bond said in a statement.
She also said she was concerned that by moving the camp a short distance from the original protest site, "these members of Occupy Vancouver are acting in defiance of the spirit of the original order that the court issued on Friday."
In Toronto, and also in Ottawa, where occupants also faced a deadline to vacate, protesters burned their eviction notices.
Emotions ran high at the Toronto encampment at St. James Park after the protesters lost a court bid to invalidate the city's eviction notice. "We will stand our ground," protester Sakura Saunder vowed.
An assembly to debate the next move was interrupted when police and bylaw officers moved through the park amid jeers to issue new trespass notices.
"They're free to protest … but not between 12:01 a.m. and 05:30," said Toronto police Inspector Gary Meissner. "… I'll give them plenty of time to comply first before further action is taken."
While some packed their tents and left, others erected a makeshift barricade of boards and wood pallets outside the yurt that served as the camp library. Two masked self-described anarchists chained themselves to the yurt.
Hundreds of people descended on St. James Park Monday night. Police and bylaw officers, however, made no attempt to clear the park and enforce the midnight to 5.30 a.m. curfew.
Protesters banged drums, danced and chatted in small groups as they vowed to hold the park against any eviction attempt. The only visible police presence was a single cruiser parked across the street.
Shortly after midnight, organizers called a short general assembly to exhort people to stay all night. They reasoned that the city would move in to evict if the numbers dwindled.
"If we stay here tonight, we're going to get really tired, but this is a movement," said one woman. "Let's show the police and show the city that we're serious."
In Ottawa, protesters who had settled in Confederation Park for five weeks got an eviction notice that gave them until midnight to dismantle their shelters.
Like other protesters, the Ottawa group felt the order was part of a co-ordinated move by the authorities. "This eviction notice – along with the other evictions of Occupy Wall Street and everywhere – is a disgrace," they said in a statement.
In the past week, police have dismantled camps in Regina, Halifax and London, Ont.
Montreal city hall showed signs on Monday it was losing patience with the protesters after weeks of marked tolerance. Mayor Gérald Tremblay urged them to leave the city's Victoria Square as quickly as possible.
"The occupiers' concerns have been heard," the mayor said in a statement. "... it's by leaving with their head high that the whole world will realize it's possible to aspire to things that never were."
The Occupy Montreal site has been showing signs of strain as organizers said their time was taken up with managing a growing number of drug addicts, homeless people and the mentally ill.
The City of Victoria won an enforcement order on Monday that gave police additional authority to remove the remaining activists who have been camping near city hall since Oct. 15.
But the police were in no hurry to evict the campers, who still had 15 tents scattered.
In Calgary, bylaw officers entered Olympic Plaza late Monday to begin dismantling Occupy Calgary tents and to ask people to leave.
Bylaw Services spokesman Bill Bruce says there were about 10 tents and fewer than 40 people in the plaza when officers arrived at 11 p.m. He said the process was peaceful "as it has been with this group all along."
Mr. Bruce said police were not taking part but were on the scene to provide security because "this is a bylaw issue, not a criminal matter." He said officers were giving people a chance to "pack their stuff and go" and unoccupied tents were being removed.
With reports from Justine Hunter in Victoria, Ingrid Peritz in Montreal, Adrian Morrow in Toronto and The Canadian Press