Hundreds turn out to plan Occupy Vancouver protest
Posted Oct 8, 2011 05:09:59 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The protests on Wall Street started with a poster designed in Vancouver asking a question: “What is our one demand?”
About 200 people met downtown yesterday to try to answer that question ahead of next Saturday’s Occupy Vancouver protest.
Activist Tristan Markle says people in Vancouver sympathize with those who have been camped out for weeks in New York’s financial district. He predicts sweeping changes to the global economy if enough people work together.
“There’s a global movement across the continent to defeat the one per cent who control the capitalist economy, so we’re going to do our part to be just as courageous and strong as the people in the other cities are,” he says.
“The restructuring of the economy and the relations between people that have to happen in the next decades is going to be massive, and it’s going to involve everyone working together.”
Organizers stressed non-violence and encouraged demonstrators to bring tents downtown and document any problems with police.
Brad Johnson, who joined the Facebook group because he wants to help with infrastructure, says this could go on a lot longer than just one day. Over 2,600 people have joined the group so far.
“There’s a lot of long term planning around what they’re going to do in the winter time, how it’s going to be directed,” he says. “There’s a lot of people who are volunteering to bring out tools to help out like generators and all that, so it looks like it’s going to be a very long movement.”
The protesters, who say they have no leader, are organizing committees to handle issues such as safety, security, permits, infrastructure, sanitation, and first aid.
