Vancouver Police move in to clear CRAB Park tent city
Posted June 16, 2020 7:29 am.
Last Updated June 16, 2020 12:01 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Vancouver Police officers are asking people living in the tent city adjacent to CRAB Park to clear out or risk being arrested.
Tent city residents claim they’ve moved to a lot that is outside of the area covered by an injunction that was granted to the Port of Vancouver, ordering residents to leave by last Saturday.
VFRS wildland fire unit also here assisting. Slow steady movement of homeless campers packing up and leaving. One tells me they’ve been told police will hang back as long as people are packing up. pic.twitter.com/bhPSGgK9Mw
— Mike Lloyd ☕️ (@llikemoyd) June 16, 2020
It’s reported about 100 people live at the tent city along the waterfront. The campers have been in the CRAB Park area for a couple of weeks after they were cleared out of a similar encampment at Oppenheimer Park on the Downtown Eastside.
According to a statement from CRAB Park/Namegans spokesperson Crissy Brett, officers arrived at 6:00 a.m. Tuesday and “did not announce a charge.”
Tent encampment next to Crab Park slowly being dismantled. Vancouver Police have shut down Waterfront Rd as many officers look on. @BT_Vancouver @CityNewsVAN pic.twitter.com/TjrZs4bEJz
— Greg Harper (@GS_Harper) June 16, 2020
The statement notes officers said anyone in need of housing should “make it known to an officer,” and that anyone needing storage for their belongings could have their property “tagged at the VPD property office.”
At a rally Saturday afternoon, campers and their supporters outlined their demands, which include housing for everyone who doesn’t have safe and secure shelter, and acknowledgment that the site of the camp is not private property or federal land, but rather the unceded territory the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh.
Waterfront Road is currently blocked in both directions between Waterfront Station and Main Street.
