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Occupy reboots at May Day protests

Three were arrested at an Occupy Toronto May Day protest late Tuesday, capping off an otherwise orderly day of mass demonstrations to mark the international celebration of workers’ rights.

After holding scattered events throughout the city Tuesday, at 4 pm nearly 2,000 people began gathering in front of City Hall, where protesters took turns making speeches, singing chants, and banging drums amidst a sea of banners. From there they marched west to Alexandra Park, and then a smaller group headed to Simcoe Park in the financial district where protesters intended to stay until Wednesday night in what was billed as a “re-occupation.”

“The idea is that we’re occupying the heart of the beast,” said organizer Sakura Saunders. “We’re going to transform a place that is usually heartless, and breathe some humanity in it.”

While May Day celebrations are typically used to call for worker solidarity, on Tuesday activists rallied around a wide range of causes, including indigenous sovereignty, federal immigration reform, the Quebec student strike, opposition to global austerity measures, and calls to end to war in Afghanistan.

“We will connect our struggles,” shouted one speaker at City Hall, “we will declare status for all!”

The march and rally was spearheaded by a large coalition of groups that included Occupy Toronto, migrant justice organization No One Is Illegal, and several unions.

Usually less well attended than May Day marches in Europe, this year’s Toronto demonstration was boosted by the occupation that captured the city’s attention last fall when protesters took over St. James Park for five weeks.

As he marched down Queen St., a politically active artists named Roy Mitchell said that he had never attended a May Day event before.

“But because of the springing of hope again for a new version of the occupation, that’s why I’m here,” he said. “This is the energy of Occupy.”

The protesters were accompanied by a heavy police presence as they snaked through downtown rush hour traffic, periodically stopping to block intersections. Occupy organizers kept their final destination a secret until they arrived at Simcoe Park just after 10 pm because they feared police would erect barricades around the site, which sits directly north of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Front Street.

Toronto bylaws prohibit being in public parks overnight and at first it was unclear whether police would allow protesters to stay. The city’s parks department decided to waive enforcement of the bylaw however, and the cops said they wouldn’t clear the area as long as no tents or other structures were erected.

Most protesters, whose numbers by that point had dwindled to under 200, agreed to the compromise, but a multi-faith group tried to erect a tent and three members were arrested. As police led them to a waiting van, activists shouted “Shame!” and “Let them go!”

Other clergy members who weren’t taken into custody said they had been trying to set up a place of worship in the park.

“Our intent was to put up a sacred space,” said Reverend Alexa Gilmour. “We have values in common with folks that are part of the Occupy movement, and we’re taking a stand with those people and with those values.”

Friends identified the three as Barry Rieder, Lee McKenna, and Maggie Helwig, members of a group of chaplains that had been involved in the St. James occupation. They weren’t charged with criminal offences but were given $65 tickets for engaging in prohibited activity on the premises, and told not to return to the park.

The prohibition on structures scuttled organizers’ plans to set up a movie screen, sleeping areas, and a “free school” at Simcoe Park, and instead after midnight as temperatures dropped occupiers’ split into discussion groups. Wednesday morning they planned to protest a board meeting of mining giant Barrick Gold being held across the street.

Protesters intend to start cleaning the park and packing up by 7 pm, but Occupy member Ben Hirsch said this wouldn’t be the last action the group takes this year.

“Expect a summer of resistance,” he said.

@NOWTorontoNews

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