RCMP called to Burnaby city council chambers as anti-demoviction rally takes over
Posted July 24, 2017 8:53 pm.
Last Updated July 24, 2017 11:36 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – Protesters in Burnaby who took over Monday night’s city council meeting did not get what they were hoping for as RCMP officers were called in.
Councilors voted unanimously in favour of the downtown Community Plan for Metrotown, which would see affordable rental buildings demolished for new development.
Ahead of the vote, about 25 people holding signs and noisemakers chanted for a couple hours as the mayor and councilors retreated and the Mounties were called.
Dave Diewert with the Stop Demoviction Campaign says the protesters then retreated when they heard talk of possible mischief charges.
“The fight for us is now going to move from council chambers to the buildings where people are going to be facing imminent evictions and that where we’re going to stage our next actions of resistance.”
The protestors are calling on the new provincial government to take measure to protect affordable rentals in metro Vancouver and to intervene in Burnaby.
“What we did achieve is to give voice to the frustration and the anger of people being thrown out of their homes as a result of this plan. I think we made our demands clear,” Diewert says.
