The Council of Canadians at Toronto City Hall on Saturday.
CBC reports this morning, “Police began arriving at the Occupy Toronto camp early Wednesday to enforce a judge’s ruling upholding a city eviction, and remove what’s left of the about 200 tents that had filled downtown St. James Park for about five weeks. …Before sunrise on Wednesday, police vehicles, including three buses and 20 cruisers, could be seen staging in and around St. James Park before heading into it around 6:15 am Wednesday. CBC’s Trevor Dunn reported that just after 7 am, police and bylaw enforcement officers began walking through the park, photographing and tagging each tent while avoiding engaging the protesters in conversation.”
“Many protesters said they planned to go peacefully, CBC’s Jeff Semple reported early Wednesday, while others chained themselves to a large tent, called a yurt. Protester Brandon Grey was one of those who had chained himself inside the yurt, which protesters are using as a library. Grey was interviewed via telephone by Matt Galloway, host of CBC’s Metro Morning, and said he would only be removed by force. ‘This is a free library accessible to all,’ he told Galloway. ‘They have no right to shut it down. …We are going to stick to what this movement is about: non-violence and peaceful resistance.'”
The Council of Canadians
On Monday evening, Toronto-based Council of Canadians organizer Mark Calzavara reported that the library had already been barricaded – and that there were four books by Maude Barlow in that library. On Saturday, before the court ruling, the Council of Canadians marched with 2,000 others in support of Occupy Toronto. The Peel Region, York University, London, Peterborough and Toronto chapters, plus dozens of Council of Canadians members, participated in that march to Toronto City Hall.
Update: At this hour (12 pm ET), The Toronto Star reports, “Police have surrounded an area in the western side of the park, where a number of a tarp-covered tents are being cleaned out and removed. The enclosed space also includes the First Nations’ groups sacred fire, where an unknown number of protesters are barricaded.” On November 7, Toronto-based Council of Canadians organizer Mark Calzavara arranged to have a small load of hardwood delivered to Occupy Toronto for that sacred fire.
