Daniel ..Toronto, Canada

Toronto, Canada - Occupy Toronto ends their camp-out at St. James Park in downtown Toronto. Court ruled Monday it was illegal and police moved in at 6am Wednesday and cleared the park without violence.

Organizers have said the protests will continue, and some have reported they will find another camping spot, possibly Queens Park. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford announced in a statement on Wednesday that any camping on city property would not be tolerated, however marching protests will be encouraged.

The shutdown of Occupy Toronto campers went very smooth as police moved in at 6am and was very peaceful as police, fire, and EMS made the transition very well organized. Several shelters were fortified with lumber and plywood and at the Yurt library protesters had chained themselves to the building.

City workers removed most of the boards until the special police team, specialists in structural dismantling moved in and finished the project to release the protesters and arrest them.
Spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service, Wendy Drummond said, "A total of nine were arrested under the trespass to property act, fail to leave while directed. My understanding is the six I know were released and the other three that were just taken now, are in the midst of being processed." She went on to say, "Our intention is just to stand by and allow the city to come in and do their job under the authority they had with the court order."

The cleanup by city workers continued until about 5pm on Wednesday, and a few more were arrested, but most were processed and released immediately.

As the police tried to dismantle the library Yurt, where protesters were padlocked to the structure, many tried to get them out without arrest. "We want to have a conversation, what if we, as an occupy community, not with the help of the police, so we can take the yurt for possible reoccupation later, what if we have that conversation with the resisters right now."

Even though fellow occupiers suggested this, a flag waving protester, Shane, was standing on top of the makeshift structure, blocking the yurt entrance, and he replied, "Not a chance, the negotiations are over and I am not leaving." He was later arrested and released after processing.

"The spirit and the movement will not be stopped" said one protester as he was led to the processing area. Marches are being organized on a regular basis as they hold several meeting to continue there protests in a peaceful manner.


Daniel ... Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50






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Toronto, Canada - Occupy Toronto was given notices today to leave the St. James Park tonight at midnight but five protesters went to court and were given an injunction which will be ruled on later this week.

This is the 31st day of Occupy Toronto and things were getting very well organized, but since the warning today many campers left the site in fear of arrest or violence.

The site has deteriorated and is very mucky and dirty, and the food area did not have any cups available when I was there, and I was directed to the sink. I chose to walk over to Tim's instead.

Positive UPDATE - On November 16th the Toronto Fire Department arrived at the park and made the protesters remove the tires from the park.This may have been the plan they were arranging and the police finally put a stop to it, in the interest of public safety.

A truck pulled up around 3pm today with a full load of used tires and started unloading them, until the police approached. The sergeant asked them what they were for, and they gave him some "story" and allowed them to move them onto the property. Right after the conversation with the police the sergeant was on the phone I suspect to his superiors to find out what to do.

It seemed very strange to me since I have heard/seen "Tire Fires" and they are not pleasant. What other reason would they be bringing tires onto the park? I contacted organizers, but they had no comment. The tires were piled up near the back of the Church on the NE side, and it will be interesting to see what they will do with them.

I suspect the police do not want any confrontation and thereby let them bring the tires onto the property, but I'm sure the same thing crossed their minds. Will they be bringing the gasoline in a different truck, not necessary, it's already there, right next to the generators. (see picture)


Daniel ... Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything
@dandmb50






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Toronto, Canada - Occupy Toronto is alive and well, and has been peaceful with very little police presence, for now. Let's hope it stays that way, and they appear to be wearing their name-tags.
Over 950 cities around the world and almost 80 countries held protests on Saturday in support of the Occupy movement and Toronto's gathering was peaceful, with almost 2-3000 supporters.
The Occupy Toronto group appears to be relatively well organized yet many protesters are still not clear on why they are there.
They marched from the financial district yesterday to St. James Park which is near Church and King St. East and about 20-30 people set up tents and planned on staying, for how long no one is sure.
Eric from Port Hope, Ontario plans on staying until next weekend. He had several large bottles of water and supplies and is upset with the "1%" who he assured me, he is not. "I'm here to protest the inequality and to basically tell the 1% they need to start sharing." Eric went on to say "I've been looking into it and if you say you are a 'natural person' and if you say that's what you are, the police can do nothing." Only time will tell, if or when the police move in to evict the campers. But he and others said they want this to remain a peaceful occupation.

Matilda Sunshine (10 months) and her mother Dionne from Toronto dropped by to be part of the protest for the day.
"Matilda is part of the 99% and I would like her to be part of 100% and things are just not what what they should be in Toronto and Canada." She added "I have faith in Torontonians and people in general and now is our time, and Matilda is clearly our next generation."
Dionne was also very impressed that everyone was peaceful and she saw very few police which made her more relaxed.


Check out all my PHOTOS HERE on Occupy Toronto




Daniel .. Toronto, CANADA
My take on everything - MTOE

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