First Eviction of the Woodwards Squat (21 September 2002) 1/2

Vancouver PC 1084 McCarthy was one of two camera operators deployed in the VPD mobilization to evict the Woodwards Squat, the first eviction, on the morning of 21 September 2002. The first clip, ten-second, begins at 05:25 or 05:35 according to the time stamp, 1084 establishes his identity and location by voice, misnames the action as an "anti-housing demonstation", there is almost no light, as the Emergency Response Team and associated constabulary are assembled in the stairwell on third floor of the building—below what is now Dance Studio II in the current "SFU Woodward's". The second clip cuts to 06:12 with shadows of officers and unknown civilian personell, perhaps BC Housing Corporation lawyers or City of Vancouver engineers, and at 06:14, for five minutes, they use prybars, axes and a battering mallet against the barricaded double doors separating the stairwell from the rest of the then-gutted open floor where the 54 occupants sit in a circle. The camera is shut off , the police go around through a non-barricaded opening, the camera is turned back on at 06:22 and arrests commence nineteen minutes later.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Woodwards Squat
• Woodsquat
• Woodward's Building
• Woodward's 54
• Woodward's
• Vancouver
• squatting
• Vancouver Police Department
• Emergency Response Team
• Repressive State Apparatus
• repetition automatism
• housing
• barricades