Occupy Vancouver in Photos

The Occupy Vancouver event began today in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery to show solidarity for Occupy Wall Street and to voice opinions and concerns over our own issues with the economy, politics, and everything in between.

Twitpic from GlobalBC courtesy of Jennifer Palmer

“The grassroots protests had Canadians expressing their disenchantment with the corporate system which they said favours a small but vastly wealthy elite and disregards the masses — or “the 99 per cent.” [source] As a crowd of hundreds grew to thousands the #OccupyVancouver tag on Twitter was teeming with comments. There were positive messages, cheeky commentary, and negative remarks that reflected the sentiments people have toward the movement.

Photo credit: Stephen Dyrgas on Flickr

Photo credit: mutrock on Flickr

Photo credit: Stephen Dyrgas, Unlikely Ghost on Flickr

Photo credit: tosujet on Flickr

Photo credit: Canadian Veggie on Flickr

Photo credit: Canadian Veggie on Flickr

Photo credit: Canadian Veggie on Flickr

Photo credit: Stephen Dyrgas on Flickr

Photo credit: Ariane Colenbrander on Flickr

There was definitely a police presence from what I heard [disclosure: I was not on-site] but from the dancing and meditating to the drum-circles things seemed to stay very positive. At one point this afternoon, @AndreaWoo posted on Twitter: “So far, #OccupyVancouver might be the most peaceful protest I’ve seen in this city.” I re-tweeted her comment on and received a reply from @aaronmalexander: “#occupyvancouver has turned into a dance Fest – you are right it couldn’t get anymore peaceful.”

Photo credit: rommy ghaly on Flickr

About an hour ago the Vancouver Police Department thanked the peaceful protesters on Twitter: “#VPD thanks those attending @occupyvancouver today for their cooperation & helping keep everyone safe #occupyvancouver.” Streets are opening up again downtown as crowds thin but tents are still present at the Vancouver Art Gallery. It will be interesting to see how this continues in Vancouver as the movement gains global momentum.