Charges laid after Tuesday’s confrontation between VPD and DTES residents

The first criminal charge has been announced following a confrontation between the Vancouver Police Department and Downtown Eastside residents and activists on Tuesday.

A 44-year-old woman has been charged with assault with a weapon at Main and East Hastings streets on Tuesday, according to Vancouver police.

Vancouver police allege the woman struck an officer in the head with an object.

“The officer was one of seven VPD members who were surrounded and assaulted after staff from the Carnegie Centre phoned 911 and asked for help to deal with an unruly man who was destroying property and putting other people in danger,” VPD Sgt. Steve Addison said in a statement.

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According to the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, the man had a confrontation with Carnegie security, with up to 10 police officers responding by arresting the man, tying him up, and putting him in the back of a van.

VANDU says a woman then threw her coat at police, who then arrested her, upsetting the crowd on the street.

In videos posted to social media of the ensuing confrontation, Vancouver police officers can be seen forcefully detaining and arresting legal observers and onlookers.

In all, seven people were arrested, while three are expected to appear in court at a later date.

Video contains police violence.

On August 9th, the City of Vancouver’s first day of “ethical” decampment ended in police led violence that harmed members of the community and targeted activists.

Destroying people’s homes is always violent. This decampment must end now. 1/ pic.twitter.com/rRb8T75ocT

— ryan sudds (@ryansudds) August 11, 2022

In an email to CityNews, Pivot Legal Society confirmed that its Criminalization and Policing Campaigner Meenakshi Mannoe was one of the seven, and has since been released without charge.

The incident on Tuesday occurred after City of Vancouver workers had wrapped up their work for the day in decamping East Hastings Street. On July 25, Vancouver’s fire chief issued an order for the immediate removal of the structures within three days. The deadline was initially extended to Aug. 3, only to be again postponed another week.

Residents of Hastings Street are being given no housing and no safe alternatives to setup tents. The city is unprepared to decamp and unwilling to respect people’s rights.

Decampment Day 1 was a policy failure that ended in police attacking community members and activists. 3/ pic.twitter.com/gIhP2ecsH3

— ryan sudds (@ryansudds) August 11, 2022

On Wednesday, the city decided to pause the decampment work while it works to inform the community about storage and possible housing options.

“These officers were just doing their jobs – fulfilling their duty to protect the public and apprehend a violent offender,” Addison said. “The Carnegie Centre is a gathering place for low-income and marginalized community members, and when our officers were called to help, they were surrounded by people who threw objects at them, bit them, punched them in the face, and tried to prevent them from making a lawful arrest.”

“This incident is another example of our officers facing violence while trying to maintain some degree of public safety in an increasingly hostile neighbourhood.”

CityNews has asked VPD for clarification regarding the injuries to the seven officers during Tuesday’s incident.

– With files from Kurtis Doering