Anarchists take credit for damage to Vancouver businesses in “ghetto revolt”

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      It’s a “fucking class war” in a “fucked-up city”.

      Anarchists have launched a “ghetto revolt” against “capitalist assholes” and “gentrifiers”, claiming responsibility for a number of attacks on Vancouver property in postings on an anarchist website.

      They’ve claimed responsibility for smashing the windows of the Bank of Montreal branch at 2515 East Hastings Street on the evening of March 13. “BMO was targeted not only because it is a symbol of capitalism but because it banks with Compliance Energy Corporation,” the post reads. “They are in the coal industry.”

      Unnamed parties also took credit for the theft of a sign from Save On Meats restaurant at 43 West Hastings Street “to let the gentrifiers know that they have entered an area with a long history of class warfare”. They also blasted PiDGiN at 350 Carrall Street as a “restaurant for the wealthy and well-dressed bourgeois/up-and-coming class”.

      In one post, a group calling itself the Anti Gentrification Front claimed responsibility for smashing the windows and one of the surveillance cameras of Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria on Commercial Drive. “We are also inspired by the picketers of the new yuppie restaurant in the downtown east side called Pidgin,” the group declared.

      This group also claimed that they were responsible for shattering the windows of two trucks and a tractor belonging to the City of Vancouver.

      Sgt. Randy Fincham said the Vancouver Police Department is looking into these events.

      “The incidents that recently happened on Commercial Drive and the smashing of windows, those are currently criminal investigations, and we will attempt to identify the people that did do the damage,” Fincham, a VPD spokesperson, told the Straight by phone.

      Antipoverty activist Ivan Drury, who recently helped organize pickets outside PiDGiN, stressed that the anarchist attacks are “not connected to the community struggles in the Downtown Eastside”.

      “But in my opinion,” Drury told the Straight by phone, “these actions are inevitable…when the city is pouring all of its resources into supporting the development of high-end shops and businesses and continuing gentrification drives that affect people who are vulnerable to displacement and systemic violence.”

      Describing himself as someone who is “not hung up on tactics”, Drury said he was not condemning the attacks: “I think that Vision Vancouver’s tactics and their planning and zoning regulations, which are all done on paper and very neat and tidy by legal people, these hidden acts of violence have far more impact on the lives of people in the city.”

      Comments

      51 Comments

      Travis

      Mar 20, 2013 at 5:33pm

      Save on Meats ? the guys employing DTES residents ? Mark Brand is fighting the good fight down there and these misguided fools steal his sign then pose for pictures ?
      Weak, hardly gonna win the people over.

      Sam Galloway

      Mar 20, 2013 at 5:34pm

      It is very disappointing they attack Save on Meats. Save on Meats have done a lot to help the homeless in the area.

      typical east sider

      Mar 20, 2013 at 5:42pm

      i hate everything that isn't about social housing and bikes, oh and getting toasted, nicely toasted... wait, what were we talking about... man i could go for some pizza, i wonder if that new place on commercial is open...

      Ashley

      Mar 20, 2013 at 5:45pm

      Well that's just ignorant... Do they not realize how much Save On Meats does to help the local population through their sandwich tokens, and donations of food to community programs. By stealing from them, they're actually hurting programs that are put in place to help the poor.

      They should get off their computers and do something to help like volunteering if they want to make a change in the world.

      Rs

      Mar 20, 2013 at 5:49pm

      Sometimes I think that people's motivation for malicious attacks is an afterthought of justification. I don't think these "anarchists" are that far removed from the pathetic Stanley cup rioters.

      Ken

      Mar 20, 2013 at 5:51pm

      I think this is called, "Biting the hand that feeds you"

      Matt Foulger

      Mar 20, 2013 at 5:55pm

      Masked clowns steal a sign from Save on Meats like drunk frat boys stealing stop signs for their college dorms... only they use the words "gentrifiers" and "bourgeois", so they're righteous, serious people. Never mind the fact that Save on Meats is actually trying to lift the community up through employment and discounted food for residents. It apparently hasn't occurred to them that such a business actually creates value, and that much of that value is captured by the community. These half-assed anarchists are too lazy to organize a real movement which could achieve practical reforms to our unfair housing/welfare situation. Instead they hide behind masks and commit the most petty, meaningless acts.

      dave

      Mar 20, 2013 at 6:15pm

      good to see the local universities are still churning out idiots

      WildBill

      Mar 20, 2013 at 6:30pm

      "Anarchists"? What a joke; it's just that tired old Vancouver rent-a-mob - no solutions offered, no positive input at any level of their actions, just wasted negative effort. Positive change will only come about as a result of positive action and that doesn't mean quitting the good fight; it means sustaining the good fight by drawing more people to your side through positive actions.

      John Simpson

      Mar 20, 2013 at 6:33pm

      These guys are clowns. That being said, there still is merit to the cause of fighting gentrification. Most of these restaurants are over-priced garbage targeted at Vancouverites who don't know anything about food.

      Ah Vancouver, so full of idiots.