Vancouver police officers moved in to clear the tent city at CRAB Park beginning Tuesday morning and ending late in the afternoon following a court order granted last week to the port authority.
Most of the campers were already packing up their belongings and getting ready to move on when officers entered the encampment Tuesday morning. One person was arrested for mischief, but released a short time later with no charges.
By 4:30 p.m., dozens of people remained, sitting on the ground and refusing to leave. Police made multiple requests for them to leave, and issued warnings about the injunction order.
46 people chose not to comply. They were arrested for civil contempt of court.
Vancouver police say in the past few days, campers had broken into a locked and secured Port property. On Tuesday morning, police informed the campers that the break-in and their presence in that area could result in mischief charges.
The B.C. Supreme Court granted an injunction last Wednesday, with a 72-hour window to clear the space. That deadline came and went on Saturday.
The encampment is on a parking lot belonging to the Port of Vancouver, next to CRAB Park.
More than 180 people were estimated to be living there, after the B.C. government moved last month to transfer campers out of nearby Oppenheimer Park and into temporary housing in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19.
It was not immediately clear where the campers were headed.
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