Occupy Kingston looks for new space

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Corey Sands
Image by: Justin Chin
Corey Sands

Occupy Kingston has ceased operations until Wednesday after city officials told protestors to leave a second park.

The decision came after city council voted 7-6 on Tuesday to evict the protestors from Confederation Park by Dec. 9.

Occupy Kingston had camped in the park since Oct. 15. On Wednesday night, a small group of protestors moved to nearby Bouchard Park.

Matt Thornton, a member of the Kingston movement said an agreement with the City was made Thursday night to leave Bouchard Park.

“We came to a consensus that in order to avoid the inevitable police violence that comes with resisting, we decided to just accept the City’s offer,” Thornton said.

Though there are no plans in place to occupy public areas again, Thornton said the movement might pick up again on private property.

“Also we’re meeting with the city starting on Tuesday to discuss getting an actual space for permanent occupation,” Thornton said.

“We’re looking to work with the City to get a city-owned vacant building.”

According to the Facebook group, the next general assembly for the movement will be held on Wednesday at the Sleepless Goat. The general assemblies scheduled this weekend were cancelled following the move out of Bouchard Park.

With a slim majority of councillors voting to evict Occupy protestors, Thornton said the City has been helpful with the movement.

“It’s amazing how lucky we are to have such progressive city councillors,” he said.

The City made a deal with the protestors to help them move from Bouchard Park this morning.

Mayor Mark Gerretsen said this was due to concerns the protestors had about the movement of their belongings.

“They had concerns about what to do with all the stuff they had,” Gerretsen said. “We ended up agreeing to pay for a moving van, as well as one month’s worth of storage at a storage facility so that their stuff could be kept.”

Police were not on sight when the protestors left this morning. No arrests have been made.

“They were very cooperative,” Gerretsen said.

Tags

Bouchard Park, Confederation Park, Occupy Kingston, Protest

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