PROTESTERS DEMAND END TO POLICE CRACKDOWN

Less than 100 people gathered in Victory Square a week ago to protest
the recent addition of 41 police officers to Vancouver's Downtown
Eastside and what they called the failure of civic and federal
governments to establish a safe injection site.

The crowd, consisting mostly of Downtown Eastside residents, activists
and drug users, marched through the neighbourhood to the corner of
Main and Hastings where they held a moment of silence for the victims
of the drug problem. A number of people told the crowd personal
stories of how drugs and bureaucratic solutions to the drug problem
have affected their lives.

The protest was organised by the Anti-Poverty Committee along with a
number of other Downtown Eastside activist groups involved with the
Coalition for Harm Reduction. Few media outlets were present and the
police maintained a low profile.

Ann Livingston, project manager for the Vancouver Area Network of Drug
Users, attended the protest and said the recent police crackdown has
had a number of negative health and social impacts. Many drug users,
who she said are only able to support their addictions by steering
other users to dealers or keeping a lookout for the police in exchange
for drugs, are being charged with possession for the purposes of
trafficking.

"The police say they're dealers, but I say they're drug addicted
people involved in the drug trade," Livingston said.

She noted that in the drug trade "the highest risks are taken by the
poorest and most disenfranchised." Eventually, Livingston claimed,
these people would be back on the streets with warrants for their
arrest for failure to appear in court - criminalised although they are
victims.

Livingston said the police crackdown has caused people to
scatter.

"I don't think an open drug market is a good thing," she said, adding
that fear of arrest has led to drug users injecting in more dangerous
areas and being less willing to access health services.

Protester Megan Oleson, a registered nurse, has been volunteering from
10 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night at the illegal volunteer and user run
safe injection site at 327 Carrall Street.

"The police," Oleson said, "have had a car parked outside the site and
have been harassing people as they come in."

She continued regardless of this and the site has received an average
of 100 visitors a night since it was opened a month ago.

Vancouver Police Constable Sarah Bloor claimed to have no knowledge of
any police contact with the safe injection site, and said she
considers it a city licensing and health authority issue. Community
reaction to increased law enforcement has been good, she said.

"There are a few political groups with their own agendas, but
otherwise the response has been overwhelmingly positive," Bloor said.
"Our hope is that we can restore a sense of community to the
neighbourhood."

Other police officers on duty at the time of the protest expressed
similar feelings and said that public reaction had been nothing but
positive.

Speakers at the protest, such as Oleson and David Cunningham from the
Anti-Poverty Committee, talked about the operation of the unauthorised
safe injection site.

"The site is a way of forcing the issue," Oleson said. "We have taken
the most action out of any level of government."

Livingston said that the various levels of government now realise that
safe injection sites will proceed regardless of government
participation. Vancouver city council is currently attempting to
secure funding for their planned safe injection site from the federal
government.