Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Canada: Occupy Fredericton Camp is dismantled


  While many Occupy sites have already been closed down an Occupy encampment next to the city hall in Fredericton New Brunswick has been ongoing since October 15th last year. In November the mayor Brad Woodside said he wanted Fredericton to be a shining example of how to deal with protesters. He said at that time that he had no plans to close down the encampment. Fredericton is the capital of the province of New Brunswick on the Canadian east coast.
    However Woodside now claims that the protesters have stayed too long and that he is concerned about health and sanitation issues. The city ordered an evacuation notice for Jan. 1 2012. There were three protesters and one police officer at the site when it was dismantled early this morning (Jan. 3) by city workers. I have appended a video. As you can see it was still dark. It takes a minute or so to see much. You can hear the chainsaws at work. There were no arrests or injuries.
    Dana Hart a protester said that it was a cowardly act. A lawyer for the protesters is going to court to argue that they have a right to remain in their encampment under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Hart said the mayor should have taken the protesters to court. Most of the protest sites in Canada and the U.S. have been closed down. Perhaps after winter is over their will be a North American spring in the U.S. and Canada and the Occupy movement will start growing again. For more see this article.

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