Vancouver Police sent out a release this morning saying that they've arrested 14 people who broke in to Lord Strathcona Elementary School Saturday night.
Sergeant Aaron Roed stated that the suspects barricaded the doors, and that “Police were met with hostile and combative suspects inside the school who, at one point, threw wooden pallets and other large pieces of wood at officers.”
Sleeping bags, tools, and alcohol belonging to the suspects were all found within the school, and damage is currently being assessed.
The organized squatters - which included homeless people and their supporters - sent out a press release of their own Saturday, calling their action the "Kennedy Stewart Squat".
They feel the City could be doing a lot more to help the vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing that "the Provincial government has declared a public health emergency, which gives them the power to use any building or property in BC for the purpose of fighting the spread of COVID-19. So far they have not used this power while more than 10,000 units of private tourist hotels sit empty in the city of Vancouver alone."
They believe that "The current choice for our community is to hide out alone and die from overdose or go out in the community and die from COVID-19. In the Stewart Squat we can be together with our community in order to stop overdose deaths, while having enough space to self-isolate and be safe from the spread of COVID-19."
Mayor Kennedy Stewart released a statement himself, in which he said "It’s clear from this action, and the hundreds of conversations I have had with people who work in the Downtown Eastside, that more information is needed about how underhoused and homeless residents can find the shelter they need to stay safe from COVID-19."
He went on to note that the Province's Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, Shane Simpson, needs to "outline his plan for the hundreds of hotel spaces and other shelter beds BC Housing has already secured," that 58 modular homes were opened in May, and that there are currently two community centres which are mobilized for emergency response.
The VPD will be pursuing charges.
