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Antwort in : /alt/activism/d Absender : plawiuk@connect.ab.ca (EW Plawiuk) Betreff : The poor fight back against repression in Vancouver and Toronto Datum : So 21.06.98, 01:40 (erhalten: 22.06.98) Groesse : 7562 Bytes ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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In Edmonton we have had attacks by trendy Whyte Avenue Business Associations on panhandlers and it is part of trend across Canada right now. In Toronto and Vancouver pandhadlers are fighting back against repressive bylaws.
FYI
Eugene Plawiuk
'Rent-a-crowd' gets heave-ho in city hall demo Gordon Clark and Shane McCune, Staff Reporters The Province A dozen protesters described by police as members of Vancouver's "rent-a-crowd" were arrested yesterday after occupying council chambers.
Police were called after dozens of people protesting a bylaw to limit panhandling stormed into the chambers, disrupted the council meeting and refused to leave.
Some protesters sat in the councillors' chairs after the councillors retreated to their offices. Other demonstrators littered the floor of the chamber with play money.
The 12th Avenue entrance to city hall was covered with chalked slogans such as Make the rich busk, Poverty is a crime -- prosecute the rich and We ain't beggars, we're street economists.
But Insp. Ted McClellan said not one of the protesters was an actual panhandler.
"We didn't see anyone," he said.
McClellan said the crowd was made up of young people who show up at all manner of protests, rallies and demonstrations.
"It's almost a hobby or a recreational sport for them," he said. Insp. Dave Jones said he had seen some of them at the past five demonstrations he had policed.
"It's the rent-a-crowd," he said.
McClellan said police would recommend that four of the 12 arrested be charged with "assault by trespass" for refusing to leave when asked. But the Crown has final authority to lay charges.
He said the four likely would be released by a justice of the peace on an order to appear in court.
The other eight were taken into custody for the less serious charge of breaching the peace, driven a good distance from city hall and told to stay away from it, said McClellan.
At least one protester struggled with police as he was being arrested, said McClellan.
The officer said police are only just beginning to enforce the city's new panhandling bylaw, which restricts begging in certain areas of the city and around bank machines and at bus stops.
McClellan said police are only enforcing the bylaw when they receive complaints and that the department still is working out its "operational plan" concerning the bylaw.
The protesters said the bylaw is designed to hide the poor rather than help them.
"All it does is keep poverty hidden in hotel rooms, not out on the streets," said Ga Ching Kong of the Urban Youth Alliance, who numbered the demonstrators at "50 to 100."
"Right now we have this monolithic NPA party that runs council, the park board and school board, and it's clearly in the hands of the board of trade" and other business groups, she said Kong said the event "could have been a peaceful protest" if the police had not arrived in force.
McClellan said two dozen officers were called to city hall, although one head count put the contingent closer to 30.
Asked whether the invasion was likely to win public support for anti-poverty groups, Kong said it is up to the news media to show "compassion." "If the media portray us as punks, that's how people will see us." Panhandlers threaten mass action Proposed curbs spark vow to drive out tourists By Ashante Infantry Toronto Star City Hall Bureau Anti-poverty activists say they will run tourists out of Toronto if the city passes a bylaw to crack down on panhandling.
The emergency and protective services committee has delayed voting on a bylaw that would curtail begging on city streets.
After a vigorous debate yesterday, councillors asked staff to research the implications of the bylaw and report to their July meeting.
The bylaw, proposed by Councillor Ila Bossons (Midtown) would ban panhandling at night and within 100 metres of a bus stop, subway station, bank machine or liquor store.
The bylaw, similar to one passed in Vancouver in April, would bar panhandlers from blocking sidewalks, asking anyone in a car for money or not taking no for an answer.
MASS PANHANDLING
Social advocates at yesterday's meeting spoke out strongly against the proposal.
``I can promise you if such a bylaw is passed, we will organize mass panhandling and mass squeegeeing in front of opera houses, theatres and restaurants,'' said Aprille Rhomer of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
``We will follow tourists everywhere they go, we will block sidewalks and we will be aggressive about our demands until people who live in Rosedale and Forest Hill refuse to come downtown.
``We'll shut down every tourist attraction in this city until this matter is dealt with.''
Formerly homeless and presently unemployed, Rhomer said she panhandles occasionally to supplement the $930 she receives in family benefits every month.
Politicians, she said, should be spending their time tackling homelessness, addiction, unemployment and poverty.
``The city has to put massive pressure on the provincial government . . . and put funding back into subsidized housing,'' Rhomer explained.
However, Councillor Doug Holyday (Markland Centennial) called begging on the streets ``an unsafe situation which we allow to exist. We're too tolerant.'' Condo owner Martin Hill told the committee that there is a ``real feeling out there that people are being intimidated and harassed.''
``Shouldn't I have the right to walk on a downtown street and not be accosted by someone?'' asked Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Don Parkway).
But Rhomer said most panhandlers will take no for an answer. ``Mainly aggression comes from frustration. The frustration comes from hunger,'' she said.
The committee wants staff to report on the legality of the proposal and whether police will be able to enforce it.
``This bylaw strikes at the fundamental tenets of civil liberty and democracy,'' said Stephen McCammon of the Canadian Civil Liberties Associ- ation.
The interpretation of the bylaw could curb solicitations by charitable groups like the Salvation Army, he said.
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