By samanthaorwell on April 7, 2008 - 12:30am
READ FULL HERE:
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/04/promising-organization...
Students for a Democratic Society, UBC Chapter, (SDS) is “open collective of students inspired by the movement from the U.S. of the 60s/70s, Students For a Democratic Society.”
Their campaigns include freeing public space, Aboriginal rights, housing affordability and the democratization of UBC governance. Most recently, they staged opposition in front of the Main Street Vancouver Police Department against holding the 20 people who were arrested at the Grassy Knoll protest (Trek Park; “KnollAid”). They also organize (although I didn’t realize it until looking at their site just now) an awesome series of political films called “Cinema Politica” (a free film series that goes on in a lot of cities at major universities). TheVancouverManifesto is a personal fan of the Cinema Politica series.
By samanthaorwell on April 6, 2008 - 1:00am
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/04/ubc-grassy-knoll-prote...
On April 4th a protest was held at the grassy knoll at UBC. The grassy knoll is undergoing redevelopment; the plan for Trek Park (affectionately called the grassy knoll) is a new transit loop that would effectively level and remove the grassy hill UBC students love to sit upon on the rare sunny day.
The protest started with live bands and good times. A bon fire was then lit in the centre concrete area and the brigade was called to hose it down. Protesters were quite fond of the festive fire and attempted to step on the hose to stop the extinguishing of potentially a symbol of the firey spirit that is Grassy Knoll protest.
One woman, who was stepping on the hose, who news is calling “Stef” was arrested:
"(the woman) was grabbed by an RCMP officer and thrown to the ground, pinned, and handcuffed. Her face was literally shoved in a puddle of mud while an RCMP officer sat on top of her," the release said, describing it as an "uncalled act of police aggression."
A small army of 25 students that grew to a whopping 35 created a human chain around the police car that detained the rabble-rouser “Stef”. 19 more students were arrested.
There is a pretty thorough play-by-play at the UBC Insider with links to videos and all that jazz.
