The Occupy Vancouver movement will get to keep its encampment for another week.
B.C. Supreme Court judge gave its lawyers more time to argue against the city’s application for an injunction to take down the tent city.
Justice Anne MacKenzie said the three-day hearing will begin next Wednesday at 10 a.m.
However, she did grant the city an interim order that requires Occupy Vancouver demonstrators to comply with the Nov. 3 fire chief’s orders until the main injunction application is heard next week.
Protesters were ordered to remove all open flames, propane tanks and other heating sources on the Vancouver Art Gallery plaza by 7 p.m. Wednesday.
MacKenzie also ruled that campers have until 2 p.m. Thursday to comply with other requirements under the order, including removing all tarp enclosures, identifying occupied tents, removing unoccupied tents and providing three-foot spacing in between tents.
The interim order also grants firefighters and city engineering staff access, so that they can ensure compliance, and it authorizes police to arrest and detain anyone who resists.
A so-called “sacred fire” by aboriginal elders at the campsite sparked a confrontation between the protesters and police earlier this week. Two police officers were allegedly bitten after assisting firefighters to extinguish the barrel fire.
The judge said it was up to Fire Chief John McKearney’s discretion if he wants to keep the fire in the camp.
Occupy Vancouver’s Elijah Ignatieff said the deadlines are unreasonable and demonstrators could’ve handled the safety measures without the need for police enforcement.
“As soon as you bring in enforcement, you are going to create confrontation,” he said.
However, lawyer Jason Gratl, who is representing the only named defendant, Sean O’Flynn-Magee, said the decision was a “reasonable compromise.”
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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