As the sun rose on the grounds of the Vancouver Art Gallery on Sunday, about 100 protesters from the Occupy Vancouver protest were waking up for the second day of demonstrations.
Canada’s Occupy protests are now in day two, and Vancouver wasn’t the only place people spent the night. Some camped out in Nanaimo and Victoria, among others.
Thousands of people occupied cities across the province on Saturday, but things are expected to be quieter on Sunday. There is a general assembly for Occupy Vancouver set for noon at the art gallery.
Vancouver Police were on high alert Saturday for a possible repeat of the Stanley Cup riot, but luckily, there was no such event taking over downtown. There were no arrests or serious incidents.
It has been four months to the day of the Stanley Cup riot, and while the VPD had a few hundred officers on the streets, the atmosphere was upbeat and calm with some even dancing and making music.
The Occupy Vancouver protest started at just a few hundred in the morning, and swelled to about 5,000 at the height of the afternoon. When the protesters marched through the streets, some roads had to be closed and traffic was disrupted, but the march remained peaceful.
Global News reporter Ted Chernecki said he counted about 25 tents pitched on the lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery by Saturday night, and the protest is expected to continue for many days at least. Some protesters said they are prepared to stay and occupy the space until their messages are heard.
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One of the organizers of Occupy Vancouver, Travis McCrea, said he thought people showed up to not only raise awareness about various issues, but also hopefully bring about some social change.
“We don’t have any intention on leaving,” said McCrea. “We will leave once we, as a group, decide it’s the best time to leave.”
Chernecki said that unlike New York, protesters in Vancouver are allowed to use a megaphone, but it took about an hour-and-a-half in the morning of using the ‘human mike’ to finally decide to use the device. A human mike is when one person speaks and those around them echo what they are saying to spread the message further.
Participants are using the opportunity to get the message out about a number of issues, but the biggest one appears to be corporate greed, and how so much of the world’s wealth is carried by so few.
People of all ages and walks-of-life took part, from the young to the old, the employed to the unemployed.
The protests in other cities were smaller than Vancouver, but it did not mean the people were any less committed to the message.
The protest in Victoria grew to about 1,000 in the afternoon, with many saying they felt they had a responsibility to stand up and have their voices heard.
The gathering in Kelowna was smaller again, with about 140 people coming out to Kerry Park. CHBC reporter Julia Wong said some protesters dressed up for the event, with one dressed in a hazmat suit and gas-mask with a sign reading ‘Eat the Rich’.
There were also protests in Kamloops, Nelson, and Nanaimo, among other cities.
While the reasons behind the protests vary from city to city, they are modeled after the Occupy Wall Street protest, a grassroots movement that began in New York more than a month ago.
Video shot by Wong at the Occupy Kelowna protest:
What can people expect at the Occupy Vancouver protest?
What would an ideal outcome be from the Occupy Vancouver protest?
David Eby, of the BC Civil Liberties Association, responds to the VPD press conference on the Occupy Vancouver protest:
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