UPDATED BELOW, 4:09pm
UPDATE II, BELOW, 5:25pm
Occupy Nova Scotia demonstrators were served an eviction notice today.
The timing was telling. The Occupiers won great good will by agreeing to move their encampment from Grand Parade, so that their protest would not take away from Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Grand Parade cenotaph. By all accounts, the Occupiers and veterans have gotten along swimmingly, and have expressed mutual respect. The Occupiers left Grand Parade November 6, moving their encampment temporarily to Victoria Park, with plans to move back to Grand Parade tomorrow.
There is a driving rainstorm today, a forecast 100 millimeters of rain—a record even in soggy Halifax—with winds up to 90 kph. Many streets are flooded, and there are scattered power outages. To move or dismantle the encampment today is a hugely difficult enterprise.
I arrived at Victoria Park at about 1:30. There were two police vans on site, but no arrests were being made, yet. Demonstrators were gathered in a communal tent, discussing their options. Many were preparing to be arrested, and were discussing how to do so non-violently, and how support would be provided for the arrested.
I spoke with Occupier John Thibeault, who told me that he went down to Grand Parade for the Remembrance Day ceremony, and with the intent to lay a wreath at the cenotaph from the Occupy group. He says he was welcomed by the veterans, and an Afghani War vet asked if he could accompany Thibeault for the wreath laying; the two laid the wreath together.
Afterwards, says Thibeault, he spoke with mayor Peter Kelly. Thibeault says he expressed a desire to work out differences with the city in a diplomatic and positive manner, and Kelly smiled and shook his hand.
At that very moment the eviction notice was being served in Victoria Park.
Thibeault makes the additional point that news coverage of the eviction—several TV crews were on site—will diminish the coverage of the Remembrance Day ceremonies.
[Audio takes a bit to upload on our website, but I’ll post my interview with Thibeault here as soon as I can.]
Incidentally, Kelly has no power to evict anyone. The eviction notice was signed by “Acting CAO Mike Labrecque,” the second in command at City Hall, behind Chief Administrative Officer Richard Butts. Butts is out of town—he maintains a house in Toronto, and flies there each weekend to be with family, I’m told. I have never reported this before, because I figured what he does with his own time is his business, but if he can’t own something as substantial as an eviction of the Occupiers, maybe his every-weekend absences are a problem. Butts, after all, receives an annual salary of $285,000.
I also have no doubt that the irony of the eviction happening under the watchful eyes of Robbie Burns, whose statue graces Victoria Park, is completely lost on both Labrecque and Kelly, and the police officers enforcing it.
Update, 4:09pm
I just came back from the park. The police were taking down tents and throwing them in a police truck. A line of demonstrators faced off against a line of police, but neither side seemed inclined to break the line of the other, and a handful of officers were going about the business of removing tents unimpeded.
The demonstrators remained non-violent and calm, even in the very heated moment. They called a quick general assembly and decided to move what tents they could over to the square surrounding the statue of Robbie Burns, and have surrounded the tents, embraced arm in arm, the idea being that this would be their last stand. The group was singing and chanting when I left. I’d estimate that there are about 50 people in this last group.
Kyle Buote, one of the demonstrators, told me that nine people had been arrested, and that people had been “beaten and punched in the face” by police. Buote says that he has been involved in demonstrations in Nova Scotia for 20 years and “this is the most violence [from police] I’ve witnessed.”
The group, which includes at least two ministers, intends to remain where they are at least until 10pm, which is when the park “officially” closes.
I’ll head back to the park in a moment, and will likely have more updates.
Update II, 5:25pm
There were some tension moments at Victoria Park over the last hour, but the Occupiers appear to be leaving without risking arrest.
The group had several quick discussions about forming a resistance chain or staying in tents to force the police to arrest them, should the eviction continue. Only 12 people agreed to risk arrest; as it was explained to me, most of the group has jobs and careers to be mindful of, and didn’t want to take that last step, while those who are unemployed, and the street kids, would.
After some back and forth, the folks who said they would risk arrest decided their numbers weren’t large enough to effectively defend the encampment, so the group decided to take down what’s left of their tents and other property, and to move it over to nearby St. Andrews church, which has offered them use of space to figure out where things are going. Evidently, the group will tonight discuss future plans at the church.
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Video from the Occupy NS eviction
This article appears in Nov 10-16, 2011.
This was inevitable. I know if I decided to camp in a public park for any reason I would expect to be kicked out/arrested for it eventually and so should the occupy movement. On the bright side there is nothing stopping these people from just going home after dark and coming back early in the morning and occupying/protesting every day without tents just like everyone else.
When did you expect the tents to be moved ?
ONS claimed to be moving back to Grand Parade at 4 a.m Nov 12.
Anyone with a brain knew that today was the day that HRM would start to enforce the bylaw and HRM is apparently forgiving the cost of the electricity theft down at GP.
Protest all you want but leave your tents somewhere else.
For the homeless this ‘occupation’ has been a mess. A mess that Rick Clarke, Joan Jessome and Kyle Buott have been quite happy to support whilst they maintain silence on issues such as addiction, mental services and inadequate social assistance; all of which they should be talking about in public and taking the Dexter government to task for failing the disadvantaged and marginalised.
Good riddance.
About dam time I hope the city sends them the bill too
Note on the last photo – those aren’t nuns, they’re ministers. Note the collar. One of our assistant editors was speaking with them as he took pretty much the same photo.
Cheers, Dal Gazette
Smacking of Irony is that we “Remember” on this day, those who laid down their lives for us; it would seem, in fact, we have “Forgotten.” These arrests directly disrespect those who fought for our Freedom!
Please see http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2…
for comments on Mayor Kelly’s November 11th photo album.
Please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIZIvHkXRmg…
for video of the eviction at OccupyNS
Kyle Buott is the President of the Halifax-Dartmouth and District Labour Council – they’ve been supporting the Occupiers financially and otherwise
I didn’t think I could ever get angrier than when these self-entitled brats were using the Cenotaph as a comic prop on day 1. But they cleaned up their act by the second day and showed good faith and respect in vacating the Grand Parade for the Remembrance Day Service. The City and it’s scumbag mayor have just handed them a free moral victory as well as undercutting the moderates who have so far kept the bonehead fringe on a short leash. Watch for lots more black clad masked assholes and far more property damage. If this was Kelly’s plan he should have shut them down on day one. One more duplicitous stunt from a duplicitous c***.
Buott just told CBC News that there were ‘only a handful of protestors’ at Victoria Park.
Then he went on to spout a lot of fibs and exaggerations.
He’ll be on the ballot next year running for a council seat.
“Kelly said they have the right to gather and protest. “We support that, but we don’t support the use of tents,” he told CBC News.
Well, Your Worship, maybe if it had been a “for-profit protest” and they had a beer tent. Or a rock concert! Then you could have loaned them $300,000 of taxpayer money!!!!
My mother was a veteran of World War 2. She served overseas as a nurse and was part of the occupation force that cared for those liberated from the NAZI death camps. In her later years, she was also a Raging Granny, and I like to think she would have been in sympathy with the Occupy Movement.
SHAME ON MAYOR KELLY AND COUNCIL!
Newsflash.
You aren’t marginalized if you can afford a tent and a winterized sleeping bag.
You aren’t marginalized if you can afford a generator and gas.
You aren’t marginalized if you complain about getting your $5,000 laptop stolen by fellow protesters.
All you are is lazy, rich and privileged.
KYLE BOUTTE, you are an over the top LIAR !!!!
Ironic … like the name Reality Bites.
Question so were does it say in the Charter of Right and Freedoms do these people have the right to “occupy” a city park? they were offered the Commons and not Victoria Park.
Also there protest cost the 99% taxes $40,000 were does say in the Charter of Right and Freedoms they can do this
Miles Howe from Media Co-Op was arrested.
He and the other 13 will be warm and dry tonight and then released in the morning and the charges dropped.
Miles Howe was arrested Joeblow?
Wow!
Charles – he was shown on TV news lying on the ground with hands behind his back and shouting ‘My name is Miles Howe’. He was in good shape and no doubt this will increase his street cred in the protest movement. He’ll wear it like a badge of honour.
The Kyle Buott 2012 council election campaign received more coverage today. He was an also ran in the 2008 HRSB election for his local area in Cole Harbour.
Joeblow
Miles Howe was arrested and that is a good thing maybe they will add trying to aid the terrorist organization Hamas like he did over the summer another stunt these hippies do . He is a professional protester. Go on their websites and they love to say how many times they been thrown in jail. Maybe they could deport them to the non western capitalist states they love so much and demand change from them.
This is not what freedom looks like, this is not what our vets fought to preserve. This looks like authoritarian abuse of power.
The eviction should’ve taken place on any day but Remembrance day, and maybe Christmas day if it was going to happen at all.
I saw Occupy NS as a bit of a joke; half empty tents and the disenfranchised chiming about their sorry lot in life. With no focus. Now I believe the idiots (Kelly only moved after London, Ont did) at HRM have legitimized them by violating their right to assemble (screw the cost) and by effectively lying to them about going to Victoria Park with an agreement they could come back. Reminds me of, ‘Hey, jump on this train for a ride to the countryside’, only to end up at a gas chamber.
the timing was very bad, the movement garnered more media attention, which i assume was there intention. kelly is not fit to lead, even robbie burns looks pissed
Gee – only a moron would write your last sentence.
Our mayor must have a brain the size of a walnut if he thinks this is the end of the matter.
In various cities across the U.S., the Occupy movement counts among its able-bodied participants American combat veterans, police officers and fire fighters, a fact which points to the broad support the Occupy movement has in the U.S. The protest has made a huge impact on cities across the country, not just New York. The American economy is hurting badly with no prospects for improvement, millions have lost their homes and jobs and tens of millions are unemployed. They want someone’s head on a pike and so far the ‘brain trust’ in the Wall Street financial sector, the infamous 1% which is largely to blame for the mess, has yet to pay for their transgressions.
This movement has inspired Occupy efforts in cities around the world and the message from all of these folks is pretty much the same: we’re tired of unelected financial elites (WTO, IMF, World Bank, Wall Street) running the world to suit themselves with no care or concern for the other 99% of us.
Our own government has finally dropped the ‘rosy’ election rhetoric from last spring and is now willing to admit that we have some very challenging times ahead of us as members of the global community. Forget that promise about balancing the budget by 2014. Whether or not the idea itself was misguided to begin with, the Conservatives have finally realized that they can’t do it in the face of a global economy that teeters on the edge of another recession and will likely face at least a decade of close to zero growth. I don’t think most Canadians who are within a decade of retirement (my demographic) have fully realized what a younger generation already knows – the whole rigged financial system is heading for a cliff.
This thing ain’t over yet and dragging those folks out of Victoria Park yesterday and ripping down a few tents isn’t going to stop it.
There is actually something that could stop you form going home….being, what if you don’t have a home.
I live and work at McGill’s Macdonald campus, in Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec. I am originally Nova Scotian. I just want to comment on what the Occupy movement is all about. This is what has been called System Change by people who study the impact of environmental crises and the slow implosion of capitalist economies. In order to take advantage of the Occupy movement, we have to take action on their concerns. By taking action on the issues of the grassroots, we are evolving to meet the challenges of environmental and economic crises. We have to collectively transform our social institutions from rigid & unsustainable hierarchies into sensitive & sympathetic organisms, such as can receive and take action upon the information and concerns given up by people such as these. Do you get me?
Occupy Everywhere, Decolonize Everywhere,
Timothy Schwinghamer
Whiskey Tango: unless your name is Eddie Carvery.
“Question so were does it say in the Charter of Right and Freedoms do these people have the right to “occupy” a city park? they were offered the Commons and not Victoria Park.
Also there protest cost the 99% taxes $40,000 were does say in the Charter of Right and Freedoms they can do this”
I saw this question and I thought that I could answer it.
The answer is Section #2. If you accept that the occupation is a form of political Expression as envision by the Charter, whether you like it or not, it is a very special thing, unique to Canada and just a few other countries in the world and it is a defining feature on which our country is built.
For your interest:
Fundamental freedoms
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
John Wesley – Go find a judge who agrees with you.
Try Patagonia or the Gobi Desert…because you won’t find one in Canada.
Others have tried and failed in Canadian courts.
I don’t see a long line up of expert lawyers putting forth the same opinion.
I don’t even see the civil liberties crowd.
I don’t see the Human Rights Commissions lining up in favour of free speech.
The courts have ruled. Get over it.
Or advocate for adoption of the section of the US constitution which mentions free speech.
Good luck.
To Joeblow and John Wesley Chisholm,
What John is saying is absolutely true, and – Joeblow – judges in Canada can still uphold and respect this enshrined freedoms. However, at almost every instance of protest that I have seen in Canada, since 2001, in various cities, the police violently attack the people – regardless of the law – often detaining people under the pretense that they were engaged in “unlawful assembly.” We need to dispense of that particular charge, if we are to have a vibrant democracy here.
Timothy – I’ll be happy to read any citation you provide that supports his premise ” the occupation is a form of political Expression as envision by the Charter “.
I interpret ‘occupation’ as including structures, tents,and camps.
Read this from Dec 1 2010 : http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-colu…
” Johnston and Shebib challenged their convictions in B.C. Supreme Court, arguing last year’s Appeal Court ruling meant they had the right to keep their shelters set up around the clock.
But Judge Keith Bracken said there are more services available during the day, including drop-in centres and shelters, and the need for shelter at night isn’t the same during the daytime.
He noted the men weren’t actually sleeping in their shelters during the day.
“There is nothing to be found in the evidence at trial to support the submission that the need for daytime sleeping space is equal to what is required at night,” wrote Bracken in a decision posted to the court’s website on Wednesday.
“During daytime hours, it is expected that more services are available and the evidence establishes that there are drop-in centres and shelters in the City of Victoria where homeless people can go. During periods of time when the Victoria region enjoys its normal temperate climate, daytime shelter may not be required.”
Bracken noted the case centres on a conflict between the rights of homeless people and the rights of the public to use and enjoy the park during the daytime.
He concluded restricting the hours in which homeless people can camp is justified under Section 1 of the charter, which allows reasonable limits on freedoms that can be “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”
I don’t need to remind you that people in the USA have much greater freedom of speech.
The problem is, the camping out isn’t working. You want change, then the occupiers first have to get organized by using something the military calls SMESH. Here’s a very quick example:
S – Situation – the banks charge too much interest on credit cards and makes getting credit too easy (yes easy)
M – Mission – to lower the overall rates and to ensure people can afford the credit they get.
E – Execution – lobby banks and government showing the folly of easy credit (easy credit causes people to borrow too much without the ability to pay back in a timely fashion) which in turn causes backruptcy and higher interest rates.
S – Signals and Communications – Using the media in the form of ads, news & curretn affair shows, the dangers of this activity as it stands now and how and why it is important to change it.
H – Headquarters – A place where you can do your busines and where people can find and contact you.
Without organization, it will get nowhere. And you can use this method for most of your complaints.
As for Council’s action, as usual it’s half-assed backwards. When the first tent was set up, that was the time to have it removed, not weeks later. The protesters DO HAVE THE RIGHT to demonstrate but not to erect a tent city. As for the secrecy, again this council has proven why NONE OF THEM should be re-elected.