And The Pig Of The Week Is… Badge #2060
Parks are for people, not PIG$!
In a further escalation of the Olympic gentrification in Vancouver, the Vancouver Police Department have been doing regular and consistent sweeps of the Downtown Eastside, ensuring no one feels safe in their own neighborhood. People scurry away from in front of the Carnegie Center in fear of the police aggression that patrols the neighborhood. The aggression embodied by state security forces to serve their elite masters was well displayed in Pigeon Park by badge #2060, on December the 23rd.
It was two days before Xmas, and the APC was serving hot chocolate between 10:15pm and midnight at Peoples Pigeon Park. We had above our heads a banner reading “PARKS FOR PEOPLE, NOT PIG$!”. We were there to draw attention to the escalating police state, and the Carrall st greenway. We were also there to serve hot chocolate, and to do our best to make Pigeon Park a more comfortable place for people whose mere presence apparently makes them targets for being “drug dealers”. The atmosphere was resoundingly positive and people were happy to know that on this particular night not everyone was abandoning them to the mercy of the historically murderous VPD.
At about 11:10pm, two beat cops showed up and immediately demanded that we pack everything up declaring the park closed. We of course refused pointing out that we were merely serving hot chocolate. One of them(badge #2060) saw past our excuse to the banner above our heads, determining that we were a threat. “Take down the banner” he said, which was followed by a flat out “no!” from our side. In a fit of rage, he threw our shopping cart to the side and ripped down our banner slipping and sliding in the snow. He began to leave taking our banner with him.
Led by the people who had joined us in the park we began to heckle them and also sang “no more Pig$ in our community”. Badge #2060 walked back towards us ripping his gloves off. After some time stalling we were eventually forced to give them our identification, so they could send in a squad car to run our names. After disappointingly finding out that they had no good reason to arrest us, they departed. If Badge #2060 had his way he would have us all down face first in cuffs and hauled off to jail for the remainder of the holidays.
It should be noted that while the VPD attempted to shake us down, people were unafraid to gather in the park and drink hot chocolate on a cold winter night, something that has been made illegal and consistently enforced in the name of social cleansing. This victory will not be the last, seeing as people are unafraid to face the police state and reclaim what is rightfully theirs.
The VPD are an overbearing oppressive force in the downtown eastside. The people in the community are considered “the problem” when it comes to gentrification, while social cleansing along with the Olympic Police State are what the ruling elites are hoping will be “the final solution”. For this reason they have earned the title pig$ to describe the police force in their necessary role as the protectors of business interests.
The Class War is the Last War!!!!
Till next time, Pig!!!!!
