Three days after city council announced it would be taking a wait and watch approach to the ongoing Occupy Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»protest in front of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Art Gallery, it has now become more of a wait and watch as firefighters struggle to enforce fire safety bylaws.
After Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Fire and Rescue Services (VFRS) members encountered difficulty rescuing a protester who had suffered a near fatal drug overdose early Thursday, Nov. 3, and also came across two prohibited propane heaters, Fire Chief John McKearney gave the protesters until the following morning to comply with a request to remove large tarps covering multiple tents, as well as any unoccupied tents, open flame heat sources, propane or other fuel sources from the encampment, and also make sure there is adequate space between tents so that rescue workers can get through in the event of future emergencies.
Things didn't go as smoothly as hoped and by mid-afternoon, Mayor Gregor Robertson gave a press conference on the steps of city hall saying fire officials would now be putting tags on any tarps, tents and structures they say need to be removed to ensure public safety.
We did not see a lot of compliance with the fire order, said Robertson. There is concern that if the fire bylaws are not respected, then the city has no choice but to take action. Our best advice is we need to ensure we have a sensible ending to the encampment, and what we've seen in every other city is a push on the protesters turn into violence and actually attract more people to the sites. We want to be sure we are doing this in a way where we can resolve the issues, that we uphold the right to free speech, but the encampment does need to end.
Police Chief Jim Chu said earlier this week that he would prefer not to ask officers to be involved in removing protesters unless a court injunction is handed down. Robertson said that any kind of injunction has not been applied for by the city but that it is looking at all options to end the protest peacefully.
There is some indication with the enforcement of the fire bylaws that some people on the site are resistant but we haven't given up on a sensible resolution, said Robertson. My hope is they will understand it is for their own safety. I've been worried all along that there could be violence from an aggressive intervention. That's not a path we want to go down here in Vancouver.
Protesters are reportedly now looking into acquiring some much larger tents that would be capable of containing many small individual tents as a means of remaining at the site while still complying with fire safety bylaws.
Twitter: @flematic
