Multiple arrests following violence with police as tents removed from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

A number of people have beenarrested following violencewith police in Vancouver's Downtown Eastsideas city staff beganthe process of removing tents and other structures along a busy street in the neighbourhood, forcing dozens of people living in the area to move.

The arrests came after a brawl broke out outside the Carnegie Centre on Main and Hastings streets around 3 p.m.

Security guards at the centrealerted police toa man causing a disturbance. Residents and community activists came to the defence of the man, and a brawl ensued with police deploying pepper spray.

Police saidofficers were assaulted following the arrest of theman, causing a disturbance in the centre.

Police shut down the intersection of Main and Hastings. Three organizers from the Stop the Sweeps Coalition were arrested, in addition to other advocates.

Vancouver police did not confirm the number of arrests but did say officers were assaulted following the arrest of a man who was throwing computers and behaving erratically at the centre.

WATCH | Vancouver tent encampment dwellers say they have nowhere else to go:

Vancouver begins removing tent encampment in downtown east side

2 years ago

Duration 2:32

The City of Vancouver began dismantling a major tent encampment in the citys downtown east side, leaving some residents with difficult questions about the future.

Police said the man resisted arrest, and fought with police.

"A large crowd gatheredand became hostile and combative with the officers," Vancouver police said in a statement.

Sarah Blyth, executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society, questioned the large police presence in the area.

"Right now, it's dissolved into complete chaos, actually," Blyth told CBC'sOn The Coast onTuesday afternoon.

"I think at the beginning of the day, people were working together community members with the firefighters and the engineers. But the police presence really causes a lot of issues for people. There's not a lot of trust there."

A notice handed out Tuesday saidremoval would first focus on the highest risk areas, adding in a statement that the process would begin outside the Regent Hotel on East Hastings Street and continue for weeks.

Workers started Tuesday by picking up garbage and sweeping up litter, while others told residents they could helppack up belongings and take them to a temporary, short-term storage area on Main Street.

Several residents said they hadn't heard about the removal until reporters asked.

Edgar Alan Rossetti, an artist,said he'd move if city workers camebut plannedto return as he's done before.

"My game plan is pack my stuff up, and anybody needs help, I'll help thembecause these guys have been more my family than anybody else over the past few years," said Rossetti, 55, who said he'slivedin the same spot outside Portland HotelSociety for more than two years.

Asked where he'll go next, he said,"Two feet away.I'll go around the block, and I'll camp back over there."

One woman sat and quietly played a wooden piano as people shuffled around her on East Hastings Street.

"I give a lot of credit to people who have a tent and make it a home," said Laura Gravis.

"It's a neighbourhood, and they're trying to make the best out of what they've got. Because of our economy, today and the lack ofavailable housing and the stigma put on particular individuals because of their drug use or because of jail or because of the way they look ...some people are just trying to live."

Forced evictions a human rightsissue: advocate

The sidewalks were still packed with dozens of tents in many areas of East Hastings by late morning. In some sections, sidewalks were impassable becausetents and shelters were groupedso tightly.

The city's fire chief orderedthe tents to becleared last month, saying they were an extreme fire safety hazard.

Advocacy group Pivot Legal Society saidclearing the community will violate a pact signed by the city, the province and Vancouver's park board to ensure supports for those without shelter.

"A big part of the issue is that there is nowhere for people to go. Forced evictions to nowhere run afoul of multiple human rights issues," said Anna Cooper, a staff lawyer with the society.

"The reason there is nowhere for people to go is B.C. Housing and the city have actually admitted we do not have enough adequate housing options available at this moment."

The society saidin a statement the city created the deteriorating conditions in the encampment by failing to provide promised storage, hygiene facilities and garbage disposal, but is now citing those safety and health concerns as the reason for the forced removal.

Pivot calledon Vancouver to provide "livable, dignified, and accessible housing"and for the fire department to acknowledge the unique needs of encampment residents by creating a harm reduction approach to fire safety that accounts for challenges ranging from toxic drugs to police violence and trauma due to colonization.

City cites risk to public safety

Last month, Vancouver's fire departmentordered the immediate removal of tents and structures along East Hastings Street due to "numerous urgent safety concerns."

On Tuesday, fire crews said their priority was creating a clear path for firefighters to access buildings in the event of a fire.

Tents and other structures outside buildings currently block doorways, fire hydrants, fire escapes, hose connections and spaces where crews would need to plant ladders for rescues from upper floors, they said.

"Our crews are going to be facing a really difficult time pulling up here ... and getting adequate water onto that fire in a reasonable amount of time [with tents here]," said Matthew Trudeau, public information officer with Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services.

"This is incredibly dangerous."

There hadbeen several fires in the area in the weeks before the order came down, including ones that destroyed a community church anda Value Village store.

Trudeausaid the fire department had seen an increase in fires of more than 103 per cent since 2018. As of Tuesday, there had been 1,016fires in the downtown core this year.

Coopersaid advocates agree fire safety needs to be addressed but disagree with the city's approach.

"Firesafety is 100 per cent a public safetyissue, and none of the advocates are saying that it isn't," she said."What we're saying is it's not the only public safety issue, and it cannot be addressed in a way that's to the exclusion of other safety issues."

The B.C. Human Rights Commissioner estimates 400 people live in tents along several blocks of East Hastings Street.

Asked where the people living in the tents were expected to move, the City of Vancouver deferred questions to B.C. Housing.

In a statement, B.C. Housing said it does not have the spaces necessary to provide shelter for people who are being displaced.

"We have been clear with the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Fire Rescue Services that, on short notice, we do not have access to large numbers of new spaces in Vancouver to accommodate the timing of the emergency order," B.C. Housing said in a statement.

It went on to say it is working with partners to notify people on East Hastings of available spaces. It is also looking at new sites to lease or purchase and is working to create spaces through expediting renovations on SRO units as they become vacant.

LISTEN | Pivot Legal Society lawyer Anna Cooper speaks about the tent removal: