Premier's office ransacked by Anti Poverty Committee

Global TV News has breaking news of the Premier's office being ransacked by three members of the APC. The office was left in shambles after two men and one women ringed the bell of the 7th floor downtown office, claiming to be delivering flowers. Once the door had opened, they barged in and began tearing the place apart.

A Global news camera was already there for an interview with someone at the office and caught the entire thing happening on camera. Vancouver Police Department has arrested and made charges towards the three criminals. Security in the future at the offices of the Premier, cabinet, and VANOC board members will be increased in light of this incident. Two office workers, both female, are said to be traumatized with shards of glass scattered around the office.

David Cunningham of the Anti-Poverty Committee, a group that wants to cancel Olympic funding towards social housing, has said protestors intend to “symbolically evict” the Vancouver 2010 board members in the same manner people have been displaced from the downtown lower east side.

He said, “we have found where their offices are, we have found where their homes are. We’re going to go and we’re going to evict them from their offices like they’ve evicted hundreds of our brothers and sisters. What we do plan on doing is targeting each and every individual on the VANOC board and holding them individually responsible for what they have done to the hundreds of people on the Downtown Eastside”.

Olympic protesters trash premier's office

By Catherine Rolfsen, Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Three members of the Olympic-fighting Anti-Poverty Committee were arrested today after ransacking Premier Gordon Campbell's office in downtown Vancouver.

About 2 p.m., two men and a young woman told a receptionist on the intercom at Campbell's office on the seventh floor of Canada Place they'd come to deliver flowers, the premier's press secretary Mike Morton said.

When the receptionist opened the door, the three barged in, broke vases, knocked over planters and threw water onto a fax machine, he said.

he receptionist was upset but not harmed physically, Morton said.

The three members of the Anti-Poverty Committee, which has become increasingly critical of the 2010 Olympics, were attempting to deliver an "eviction notice" to Campbell adviser Ken Dobell, who is also a member of the Vanoc board of directors, Anti-Poverty Committee organizer David Cunningham said.

"We targeted him to show that there really is no conflict of interest between the government and big business, and the Olympics is the one that is profiting from this," Cunningham said.

Neither Dobell nor Campbell were in the office.

Cunningham said the three boxed up Dobell's belongings and threw them into the office lobby to give him what Cunningham said was a taste of evictions experienced by poor people on the Downtown Eastside.

Vancouver police Const. Howard Chow said the three were in custody tonight and will face unspecified charges Wednesday.

"These aren't protesters, these aren't activists," Chow said. "Those that are intent in showing up at businesses or at your homes, intent on breaking the law, intent on damaging property, are criminals and will be charged accordingly."

Cunningham made headlines last week when he said the Anti-Poverty Committee has "found out where their [Vanoc board members'] homes are" and "when [they] feel safe in their offices, that's when [the APC] will evict them."

He was subsequently arrested on a charge of uttering threats and released under the condition that he have no contact with members of Vanoc, Cunningham said.

While the office was being raided, Cunningham said he was holding a news conference at the committee headquarters in the Downtown Eastside.

crolfsen@png.canwest.com
© Vancouver Sun 2007





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Global
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CTV
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/HTMLTemplate?tf=...archive=CTVNews (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/HTMLTemplate?tf=/ctv/mar/video/new_player.html&cf=ctv/mar/ctv.cfg&hub=Canada&video_link_high=mms://ctvbroadcast.ctv.ca/video/2007/05/22/ctvvideologger2_500kbps_2007_05_22_1179883892.wmv&video_link_low=mms://ctvbroadcast.ctv.ca/video/2007/05/22/ctvvideologger2_218kbps_2007_05_22_1179882053.wmv&clip_start=00:03:29.90&clip_end=00:02:55.67&clip_caption=CTV%20British%20Columbia:%20Mike%20Killeen%20on%20the%20rampage&clip_id=ctvnews.20070522.00195000-00195947-clip1&subhub=video&no_ads=&sortdate=20070522&slug=bc_protest_070522&archive=CTVNews)



CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/newsatsix/vancouver.wmv

Someone please put these people in jail for a while, where they will learn some manners.
Sick and tired of these people wasting our money....

Someone needs to take a 2X4 to these morons.

Reaction from the people that the APC are supposedly helping

Residents of Downtown Eastside also not impressed with tactics of the Anti-Poverty Committee
Wednesday, May 23 - 06:45:00 AM

Tamara Slobogean
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The Anti-Poverty Committee has added another violent event to its reputation after trashing the premier's downtown offices but who are they helping?

It turns out their tactics aren't popular with the people the APC is supposed to be representing. One man this morning says that on the streets of the Downtown Eastside, the fear the Olympics will drive prices up and push more people out onto the street is real but he says the way the message is being delivered by a few protestors isn't doing those who need a voice any good.

He says those on the APC probably have nice cars, nice homes and good meals but those who live on the street don't have any of those things and must eat out of garbage cans. He adds they're just not in the same category.

Yesterday protestors stormed parts of some BC government offices downtown, and last week they threatened individual Olympic organizers. Despite their growing unpopularity with the public in general, and now among those they're supposed to represent, the APC vows to continue its disturbances, as long as the poor are being displaced.

Someone please put these people in jail for a while, where they will learn some manners.
Sick and tired of these people wasting our money....

Yeah, a long, long while.
Glad that the hoodlums are doing this now so that we can have them all in jail by the time the Olympics come around.

Police review actions of TV crew at office protest

Catherine Rolfsen and Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, May 24, 2007

The ransacking of the premier's Vancouver office by anti-Olympic activists has triggered a police review of Premier Gordon Campbell's security and the role a television station may have played in fuelling the fracas.

"Frankly I am concerned to see the media there, filming that, and almost directing some of the activities that took place by some of those people," Campbell told reporters Wednesday.

The television branch of Radio-Canada, CBC's French network, and anti-Olympic documentary filmmaker Conrad Schmidt were inside the premier's office during the incident. It remains unclear how -- or whether -- they were informed of what was to occur there.

CBC-TV said the network expected police to search its offices Wednesday night.

Vancouver police Const. Tim Fanning said police are reviewing Radio-Canada's involvement in the raid, during which three members of the Anti-Poverty Committee trashed the office and issued a "symbolic eviction" to Vanoc board member and Campbell adviser Ken Dobell.

"We appreciate that journalists and camera people are invisible and just there to report things," Fanning said. "But I guess there's that fine line and that debatable line that if they know a criminal act is going to take place and their presence may escalate a situation, is their responsibility to not go into that place or is it their responsibility to phone police?" he asked.

For years, all that has separated the B.C. premier's downtown office from the public has been a simple electronic lock and a receptionist, who asks who is at the door through an intercom, which is how activists posing as flower delivery people gained entry at around 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Officials in the premier's office and the RCMP, which is charged with his safety, have begun a review of security, a spokesman for the premier's office said Wednesday.

Radio-Canada confirmed its presence at Tuesday's incident, but spokesman Jeff Keay wouldn't disclose how it found out about the event.

Anti-Poverty Committee organizer David Cunningham said Wednesday he sent news agencies a fax Tuesday morning calling a press conference at the committee headquarters in the Downtown Eastside.

When about 20 reporters and camera people had gathered, Cunningham said he read out a statement that a symbolic eviction was in progress at the premier's office, giving the address. Cunningham said many reporters then left to cover the office raid.

Footage of the raid was shown by Global BC and CTV Tuesday night, but neither of the news agencies had crews in the office at the time of the raid.

Global BC news director Ian Haysom said he didn't know about the protest or the press conference, but Global later acquired the footage from Radio-Canada.

In Tuesday evening's newscast, Global said its footage was from "a local media outlet who happened to be at the premier's office on an unrelated event."

Haysom said he made sure the Radio-Canada footage was gathered with editorial integrity, and that the camera operator was not complicit in the raid.

CTV said in its Tuesday evening newscast that it purchased its footage from an anti-2010 documentary filmmaker.

That filmmaker was Schmidt, who made the documentary Five Ring Circus. Schmidt said he's not affiliated with the Anti-Poverty Committee, although he gave it a copy of his footage afterwards.

He said he received an e-mail from the Anti-Poverty Committee inviting him to the press conference. When he arrived, at 1:30 p.m., he was redirected to the premier's office.

Schmidt said he arrived shortly after the activists had entered the office. Radio-Canada was already there, he said, but wouldn't tell Schmidt how it found out about the protest.

When he finished filming, Schmidt said he offered to sell his footage for $1,000 to a CTV crew that had arrived on the scene. The crew agreed, but Schmidt said he hadn't received the money Wednesday.

CTV would not confirm Schmidt's statements on Wednesday.

Schmidt said he was shocked by what happened at the premier's office, and said he won't cover Anti-Poverty Committee events in the future if he thinks they will be violent.

"This is the first time that they have done something like this," Schmidt said. "Everything prior to this I'd say was peaceful."

There is no question the media was manipulated by the Anti-Poverty Committee, said University of B.C. journalism ethics professor Stephen Ward.

"I think it's one of those cases that puts journalists in an impossible position. They don't want to be manipulated by groups who want particular types of coverage," Ward said. "On the other hand, they want to show the public what this group is doing."

He said Tuesday's events raise a lot of ethical questions about the media's relationship with protesters and police.

If the media was tipped off about the protests, Ward said news directors should judge whether they were being invited to report on criminal activity, and consider calling police if they suspect a serious criminal act may be committed.

Ward also said the media should be transparent with its audience about how its footage was collected and why media were there before police.

"The impression could be in somebody's mind that the media was too close to this group," Ward said.

Ward said he wouldn't use coverage unless it was filmed by his own news agency, in order to maintain independence.

Recent years have seen a slow and steady ratcheting up of security around the premier and government.

The legislature, once almost wide open, has in the post-9/11 years seen installation of electronic locks triggered by passes assigned to individuals working in the legislative precincts. There are video cameras above the legislature's doorways, recording all who enter and leave.

There is also low-profile but constant security for the premier.

Campbell is usually accompanied by at least two armed RCMP officers. When he jogs in Victoria, he has two RCMP jogging partners.

crolfsen@png.canwest.com

mcernetig@png.canwest.com

Vancouver police say charges have been laid in the incident.

Brendon Cunningham, 29, Thomas Malenfant, 23, and a 17-year-old girl have been charged with two counts of mischief and breaking and entering.

On May 24th, Team 1040 radio's Pratt & Taylor interviewed David Cunningham and shocking and disgusting revelations about him were made.......here is the interview if you missed it:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4RyjtdNzII

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs3xDDs6Hek


So these were the basic points if you missed the outrageous live interview:

- David Cunningham works 2 days a week for the Downtown Eastside Residents Association
- he is both mentally and physically capable of employment
- he is reluctant to go work more than 2 days a week, as the radio hosts suggested "how about working 5 days a week instead?"
- radio hosts: you work up from the bottom to the top, you don't go from 0 to 100
- he is reluctant to go elsewhere to find employment, where available (Port Moody even to be a handymen), where housing is also more available
- he thinks he is entitled to housing and food; entitled to rely on the gov't; reluctant to work
- Pratt and Taylor got angry, talked about how they also worked from bottom to top to their positions....working for $326 a month in the interior when they were 18.

Quite a view shocking and rather disgusting revelations. Sadly, this has been the exact same thing I've been saying about people like Cunningham and the APC. I always knew they were frauds.