 Thanks very much for coming out. As we've discussed many times in the past, Vancouver has a long and rich history of people gathering to express their views by participating in various protests and demonstrations. By the end of this year, we expect that we will have seen more than 1,000 protests throughout the city for people expressing their views on various issues. We support everyone's right to peacefully assemble and to express themselves and we work hard to provide an environment that allows for peaceful protest. We also have an obligation to enforce the law when protests become unsafe or unlawful. Since October 7th, we've seen a significant increase in the numbers of people who are gathering to protest throughout the city. We've also seen a significant increase in the emotions that people are expressing as they do gather to protest. Last night our officers responded to a spontaneous protest in the area of Main and Kiefer Street in Chinatown. After approximately 250 people gathered to protest and surrounded a restaurant. Prime Minister Trudeau was inside the restaurant at that time, and the actions of the protesters did prompt a significant police response. Specifically, the protesters had surrounded the restaurant with about 150 protesters on Main Street out front and about another 100 in the lane behind the restaurant. We believe the protesters took some specific actions that caused us concerns. Things like moving barricades to block, part of the lane that would have blocked vehicle access in the need of a quick response. The protesters also took steps such as linking arms to create a line or a barricade. We did not have advance notice of this protest. We often work with protest groups as they're planning protests, and we work collaboratively with groups to share information so that we can properly staff protests when they occur. In this case, we did not have advance warning of this protest. It was a spontaneous protest or a pop-up protest, and we responded quickly deploying approximately 100 officers from various parts of the city immediately in order to maintain order, restore order, maintain order and to disperse the crowd. During the process, and I should explain that, as we responded, approximately 100 officers using crowd control, public order techniques that we've practiced and refined over many, many years were deployed to manage the crowd, to create a safety bubble or a safety zone which allowed the prime minister and his detail to exit the restaurant and leave the area. Once the prime minister had left the restaurant and once the prime minister had left the restaurant and his detail had left the area, we were able to disperse the group of protesters. During this process, one VPD officer was assaulted. A 27-year-old man was taken into custody. The VPD officer was part of the group of officers who was working to disperse the crowd. She was assaulted by a protester who we believe punched her in the face and attempted to gouge around her eyes. That protester was arrested, was taken to jail, and as of this morning was still in custody with charges being recommended. A second person, a 34-year-old man, was arrested for obstruction of police by taking deliberate actions as our officers were attempting to disperse the crowd. And specifically this person took actions that we believe were obstructive of the police and the lawful execution of their duties while they were dispersing the crowd. That person was taken into custody, taken to jail, and has since been released pending further investigation and charges may be forthcoming as a result of that. We expect in the coming days, in the coming weeks, in the coming months there will be continued protests. We expect that people will continue to gather to express themselves. We will continue to deploy officers as necessary to help facilitate peaceful protests, to maintain order, and to respond to unlawful behaviour. We encourage people if they are choosing to gather to do so lawfully and to do so respectfully of others and other people's points of view. I'll attempt to answer any questions you have. Go ahead. I need to clarify that the restaurant that we responded to just before 10 o'clock yesterday evening was located in Chinatown on Main Street around Kiefer. I am aware that there is videos, there are videos circulating online of an incident at another restaurant, and I want to ensure that there's not confusion because there has been quite a bit of confusion in the media and on social media about two separate incidents that occurred. So the incident that I'm referring to that that required the police response of approximately 100 officers occurred in Chinatown on Main Street. The incident that occurred at another restaurant, I believe it was on Canvey Street and I can't confirm that. I can't tell you for certain which, whether or not that drew a significant police response, I'm not aware that it did. There may have been officers who did respond or who were in the area, but it didn't require nearly the police response as was required in Chinatown. So there was no call? I'm not aware. So as you can imagine, a large group of protesters had gathered surrounding a restaurant and the Prime Minister was inside. The actions of the protesters, the numbers of them, the actions of them doing things like blocking the lane behind the restaurant caused a concern for us, and we took steps keeping in mind we need to balance the public's right to peacefully assemble and peacefully protest by also maintaining order and upholding the rule of law. So our response was intended to balance those rights to ensure that everybody was safe, that people inside the restaurant were safe, and that the protesters were safe, balancing their right to protest while also protecting everybody's safety. I can tell you when we became aware that there was a large protest, we were not given advance warning, it was a pop-up protest or a spontaneous protest in our understanding. When we became aware that that large group had gathered, we immediately redeployed officers from throughout the city, pulling them from other neighborhoods in other areas of the city so that we could properly respond and resource what was happening down there. Can you tell us how you became aware? I don't know the answer to that, I'm sorry. Can you give more details on the protesters and the word of the group? Yeah, I'm not going to speak for the protesters or their views, but what I can tell you is that they were gathered to express their views on the ongoing situation in the Middle East, specifically the war between Israel and Hamas. Have you talked to the protesters since to try and make inroads with communicating for future demonstrations? So as I said, we are always working with protest groups and always trying to work with protest groups when we become aware that protests are happening, and quite often we'll we'll speak with them in advance to help facilitate marches or protests that are happening, whether it's at the Art Gallery or Jackpool Plaza or other places throughout the city. In this case, we were not aware of it. We will continue to attempt to follow up to learn more about who they were, what their plans were, and engage with them in the future so that we can help to, as I say, balance the need to have an environment where people can be free to peacefully assemble, to peacefully express themselves, while also balancing that need with public safety and our responsibility to maintain order and uphold the rule of law. So you haven't reached out yet? I can't say that for certain. What about communications with the PMO or the RCME since? Yeah, whenever, sure, good question. So the Prime Minister has his own security detail, whether it's the Prime Minister or another head of state or other dignitaries when they arrive in Vancouver with their own security details, we will liaise with their security details. In this case, the Prime Minister has an RCMP security detail. I'm not going to get into specific details about conversations we have with them in advance or since, but I can tell you that we are always working with security details with the Prime Minister or with other dignitaries or heads of state to ensure safety. When you say balance between the protesters and what crossed the line, obviously punching somebody in the face crossed the line, but what line was crossed last night that caused you to take action? Two people were taken into custody, one person was arrested for assaulting a police officer, second person was arrested for obstructing the police and the lawful execution of their duties. But what was the obstruction let's say? I'm not going to speak specifically about what action the person took to obstruct the police officer, the matter still under investigation and charges have not been laid. So I'm just trying to get like if somebody's going to go to a protest, like if they step in front of one of your officers are they going to get arrested? If they look at them the wrong way, like just trying to figure out what the line is between this peaceful protest and disruption to public order that would cause you to take action? So what necessitated the Vancouver Police Department's response was approximately 250 protesters who appeared spontaneously outside a restaurant in Chinatown where the Prime Minister was dining. That's a large group of people in a small area. Our officers responded with the intention of controlling the crowd, managing the crowd, facilitating a peaceful protest. Certain people within that crowd engaged in unlawful behavior and were arrested as a result of that. Two people were arrested. In arresting that person who assaulted the officer, were they pepper sprayed? What happened there? The person who assaulted the police officer, it was obviously engaging in assaultive behavior. There was a taser that was deployed during that arrest and I believe that physical, other physical control tactics were used during that arrest. I've sort of missed this at the start. Do you have a tally of demonstrations to date that the VPD is monitored and how does that track with the historic violence? Yeah, we're up this here. The last past number of years we've averaged around 800 plus protests in the city of Vancouver for a variety of causes. Most of them environmental or geopolitical causes. 2023, we're well on pace to exceed 1,000 protests in the city of Vancouver. I'm sorry, I don't have a specific number, but we're certainly on pace to exceed 1,000 protests by the end of the year. Are police concerned that protests are becoming increasingly confrontational or that they will go in forward? What we saw last night, are you concerned that we could see other incidents where there's clashes? What I can tell you is that since October 7th, there have been an increased number of people who are coming into the city to participate in protests, and there's been an increased level of emotion displayed by people who are participating in those protests. There have been some conflicts, there have been some clashes and there are police investigations that have resulted from some activity that has occurred at protests. We deploy officers, we plan ahead, we work with groups and we monitor, for example, social media to fully understand what protests are planned, and so we can resource these events properly. And there have been occasions where our officers, for example, of the archival, shortly after October 7th, had to form a line between two different protest groups to prevent them from, to prevent their very emotional and heightened behaviour from becoming assaultive. And those are the control tactics, the public order tactics, the crowd control tactics that we've practiced and refined over many, many years in this city. And I'm talking about events like the Olympics, Occupy Vancouver, Stanley Cup playoffs, environmental geopolitical protests. We have a long history of protests in the city of Vancouver. We support people's rights to peacefully assemble to express themselves, but we also have a responsibility to balance that right with maintaining order and upholding the rule of law. Your minister, Jolie, was protested recently in Yellowtown outside of a fundraiser restaurant, now a minister at a restaurant. Is this a new tactic of protesters pressuring federal politicians in Vancouver at private events that are not really publicized? I can't speak to that. Your officer who was injured, is she doing okay? She received some medical treatment. And I don't know whether that officer is going to miss work as a result of that, but did have some facial injuries as a result. You're referring to the second incident being the video that is circulating online at another restaurant. I'm sorry, I don't have specific information about that. I believe it was earlier in the night. I am aware of the video that's circulating online, but I can't tell you that there was a significant police response, and I personally don't have a level of understanding of what happened there that's in depth enough for me to speak to it with any certainty. When you say the second restaurant, I'm not sure. I don't know. If that protest at Vigis of Canada appears, it appears they let the PM go with his detail. Did you have any intel that that wouldn't be the case if it were here? Sorry, I'm not going to speak to any intelligence or work that we do with other police agencies or the Prime Minister's security detail. But your concern was that the PM would be hemmed in into a tight Chinatown block. That's why you brought so many officers. There was a protest that occurred. There were 250 people who gathered to protest. It was an unannounced protest and it was a spontaneous protest. Whether it was the Prime Minister or anybody else who was involved that would have likely prompted a police response, certainly given the fact that the Prime Minister was inside that restaurant, heightened the need for us to respond, and we took action when we did respond to control that crowd, to prevent the crowd from encroaching on the restaurant, to push that crowd back when it became necessary. And ultimately there were two people arrested for their behaviour within that crowd of people. Our actions helped to facilitate the Prime Minister's, the Prime Minister and his detail to leave that restaurant. And once the Prime Minister and his detail had left, the crowd essentially dispersed. But you were aware of the first incident when you were responding to the second. You were aware that the Prime Minister had been protested at a previous restaurant? I can't say for certain what this timeline is on that. I'm not sure. You weren't aware as a part of it? I just told you, I don't know the answer to that. Okay? You cover the spontaneous protest. It seems like a lot of people to just spontaneously show up there. I mean, it sounds to me more like without many people it's something that's planned that maybe you guys just weren't aware of. Sorry, thank you. Let me clarify my language. It was a pop-up protest and we were not aware of it. It appears that there was some level of organisation certainly involved to have that number of people gather in one location at one time. How why is it it was a hotel room? I can tell you that the the Prime Minister and sorry, I can tell you that we work with whether it's the Prime Minister or another dignitary or a head of state comes to town. We work with that person's security detail and I'm not going to get into any specific details about further to that. Does this change the calculus for VPD when federal politicians are in your city now? No. You expect VPD to have a hate response to protests going forward given what happened last night? I'm sorry, did you say that again? Do you expect to have more of a hate response going forward given what happened last night and obviously done about the Prime Minister but you know you said there's this growing number of protests happening that there has been some clashes and incidents before. Yeah, does that concern you and how are you guys responding going forward? So that kind of ties into Mike your question is it changing the calculus and let me elaborate on that because I gave you a bit of a short answer. You good now? Yeah. Okay, okay. I'll elaborate on that. In this case the incident that happened last night certainly with the Prime Minister head of state and a protest that happened in our city prompted a significant police response and we'll certainly debrief that response and we'll work with our partner agencies to look at any ways that we can improve on our response and I'm sure they will do the same but in a big city Vancouver is a big city and we often have world leaders, dignitaries, prime ministers coming to our city and we will continue to work with their respective security details and work collaboratively with their respective security details to make sure that everybody is safe this in this case we in this case the Prime Minister was in the city there was a protest that occurred which absolutely is not uncommon for a head of state or the Prime Minister or any other or many other dignitaries and politicians to occur in this case there was a protest that occurred the protest resulted in two arrests as a result of the behavior of two people who were participating in that protest that was unlawful but ultimately our response the Vancouver Police Department's response was quick it was efficient it allowed for the the Prime Minister and his detail to leave that restaurant and ultimately the the protesters dispersed once they had once the Prime Minister had left the restaurants and once they had had an opportunity to gather to express themselves and to express their points of view just before you go could you provide an up-to-date tally on eight incidents you're investigating since October 7th on eight incidents hate hate incidents yeah um I don't have confirmed specific uh data at this age and I will work on getting that for you I know there's been a lot of interest in that what I can tell you is that since October 7th um there has been a number of additional incidents we've seen an anecdotally an increase in incidents that are reported to the police some of them are suspicious circumstances people engaged in behavior that is out of the ordinary and as you can imagine there's a heightened sense of fear that many people in our community have as a result of the events that have happened overseas and many of the events that are reverberated here we are investigating a number of incidents that relate to some protest activity that occurred um in recent weeks um we are investigating a number of incidents that relate to anti-semitic gestures actions speech and graffiti but if you're looking for a specific tally and a specific number of incidents that are currently under investigation we'll have to get back to you on that note uh Premier Evie is having a press conference later today talking about actions to address hate-motivated crimes and attacks in bc can you say what actions the vpd have been taking to crack down on hate crime sure um are you wanting to speak about hate crime in general or or hate crime as it relates to the um the ongoing conflict in the middle east and specifically the war between israel and hamas if you have a separate approach to the israel hamas situation i'd be glad to hear about it but more generally it's fine yeah so what I can tell you is that um we have hate crimes investigators that work within our diversity community and indigenous relations section um and those hate crimes investigators are engaged whenever there is an incident reported to the vancouver police that we believe has an element of hate prejudice or bias so um whether it's a physical assault hate speech hate gestures language graffiti um any incident that we believe contains an element of hate prejudice or bias hate crimes investigators are um are engaged um the most serious incidents are overseen by our major crime section so our most experienced investigators from our major crime section what I can tell you is we take these incidents very seriously uh whether it's a physical assault graffiti a gesture or words um there if it's unlawful behavior we'll take it seriously and we will fully investigate and when we uh have evidence to support criminal charges we'll certainly through crown council recommend criminal charges uh be laid against a person who we believe has committed a criminal act um and when appropriate when there is evidence we will also uh encourage crown um through the court process to um uh advocate for um sentencing provisions hate crime sentencing provisions upon convictions your counterparts in calgary just charged the organizer of a pro-palestinian protest with causing a public disturbance and they added that hate motivation because he chanted a call response from the river to the sea palestine will be free so they seem to be the only department that's done that um so far in canada um toronto said they wouldn't do that in that situation would you append a hate motivation to someone causing a public disturbance at a rally for that chance so we you and i have had many conversations about this um and i'll repeat my answer um when investigating hate crimes and gathering evidence uh it's it's always contextual we need to fully understand uh the entire context of uh of an incident that's occurred to uh determine whether or not an incident is hate motivated and determine whether or not um uh hate crime sentencing provision would be appropriate so i i'm not familiar with the case in calgary uh that you're referencing but what i can tell you here is if there is an incident uh that is reported to the police if there's a vanguard police department investigation that's launched with regards to a hate incident or a hate crime we will look at the entire context of an incident um and um based on that entire context the entire body of evidence that we gather uh will make a determination to um as to as to whether an incident is uh is hate motivated and whether additional sentencing provisions are are required but you've surely got complaints about the chant like other departments and analyzed whether that is anti-semitic and would inform that hate motivation if there was any other underlying yeah so is it anti-semitic so again it's an entirely contextual uh if somebody's making a statement um and i'm not depending on what the statement is it's going to depend on the entire context of of their actions um and ultimately it comes down to us consulting with crown council and in in british columbia crown council is the independent authority to approve uh criminal charges to lay criminal charges based on the evidence that we collect and provide to them we certainly make recommendations to crown council but ultimately it's up to crown council and their independent authority to assess the evidence that we collect and determine whether or not uh charges will be laid further than that to determine whether or not um specific hate uh hate um sentencing provisions would be appropriate so it's contextual and um and will continue to investigate these incidents thoroughly and when appropriate we'll make recommendations to crown council it's not always black and white um and i can't i can't speak to you in um uh hypothetical terms uh based on what it may be another police agency has done or a hypothetical set of circumstances but what i can tell you is that if an incident occurs when an incident occurs when we engage in an investigation we'll look at all of the circumstances we'll conduct a thorough investigation um when we do believe that there's evidence of a criminal offense we'll submit our evidence to crown council for that independent review and we'll trust that um the the the system through crown council will take the appropriate steps steve can you tell me anything about an incident at craft park this morning i have limited information but what i can tell you and i should have more information later in the day but what i can tell you is that the city sorry vang the board of parks and recreation is currently in craft park um they've been doing some work within the park with respect to people who are camping overnight in the park our officers have been deployed as we have been on multiple occasions in multiple different locations essentially to stand by and to keep the peace because we know that when city workers or parks workers are in the park it can sometimes become volatile this morning there was an incident as the parks workers were conducting their business in the park as a result of that incident there were two arrests made we believe that um two assaults occurred two arrests were made i'm working on getting additional information but for something that is just happened this morning i don't have a complete understanding and i'll hope to get some more information later in the day um so my understanding is there was a parks worker who was injured a park ranger who was injured as a result um and uh at least one vpd officer who was assaulted again i'm working on confirming that information it's something that has just happened in in in the past a couple of hours and when i get more information i'll certainly be able to provide it to you i just i'm working with a very limited understanding right now can you tell me about it again limited information on that but what i can tell you and jason please jump in if i if i'm incorrect here our officers responded to a suspected impaired driver who was driving erratically in the area of main street in 18th our officers conducted with essentially called a boxing pin is that correct jason okay so our our officers said we managed to stop the vehicle and then a man was taken into custody we believe that the person did resist as they were taken into custody so significant police presence in the area simply is a result of uh the actions of the driver um and again if you want more information on that i'll be able to give it to you uh later in the day any other questions on any other topics since you got me no i'm getting the cut it sign okay thanks everyone okay