Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»city hall's court application to end the Occupy Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»tent village says the protest camp was told Friday that it was violating city bylaws.
"Construction and continued maintenance and use of the structures, tents and shelters and the Art Gallery Lands violate the City Land Regulation Bylaw," said the application filed Monday.
City lawyer Ben Parkin was to make his case before B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Anne MacKenzie Tuesday afternoon in courtroom 55 of the Law Courts at Robson Square, two blocks from the protest site at the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Art Gallery's north plaza.
Parkin filed papers Monday after a letter from city manager Penny Ballem was posted on the site asking protesters to immediately remove their tents and belongings "so that safety concerns are addressed."
Ballem cited fire safety, injection drug use and pests, plus Saturday's death of 23-year-old Ashlie Gough and Thursday's near-fatal heroin overdose of an Arizona man. The letter was ignored by protesters who vowed to resist any attempt to shut down the protest camp inspired by New York's Occupy Wall Street anti-corporate greed protest. The camp was erected Oct. 15.
The court application lists Sean O'Flynn-Magee, "Jane Doe, John Doe and other persons" as the defendants and describes Occupy Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»as "an unincorporated group which advocates economic and political goals." It said the defendants did not comply with orders issued Nov. 4 by Fire Chief John McKearney.
The city wants to enforce the City Land Regulation Bylaw's bans on tents and structures, setting fires and removal of soil. The city leases the land from the provincial government and, under the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Charter, claims authority to regulate use of all land it leases or owns.
The city filings include affidavits by McKearney, Ballem, chief building official Will Johnston and six other senior staffers.
Ultimately, the city wants a court order authorizing city employees to remove tents and other objects if the protesters fail to comply with an injunction. The city also wants an order permitting police to arrest those who disobey.
Within the application, the city wants "a declaration that this order does not prohibit or limit the right of the defendants, or any other persons, to lawfully assemble on the Art Gallery Lands."
Occupy Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»protesters showed their displeasure Monday night when they marched to the St. Andrew's Wesley United Church and disrupted a debate on housing issues between Mayor Gregor Robertson and challenger Coun. Suzanne Anton. Late Monday, a skirmish erupted when Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»firefighters attempted to douse a fire in a barrel on the VAG north plaza. Protesters formed a circle around what they called a sacred flame for aboriginal elders.
The protests are reminiscent of roadblocks and camps set-up across Canada in 1990 by aboriginal people and others in the wake of the Oka crisis near Montreal. Mohawk Indians barricaded a road to stop expansion of a golf course and housing development that threatened a burial ground. The army was called to end the 78-day standoff.
An Oka-related protest camp on the VAG north plaza lasted three weeks before chief medical officer Dr. John Blatherwick ordered it disbanded on Sept. 15, 1990 when a baby was diagnosed with bacterial infection. Two dozen protesters moved to a Squamish Nation longhouse in North Vancouver, but returned downtown a week-and-a-half later.
