Homeless activists who were arrested after pitching their tents at Maple Ridge City Hall are not facing criminal charges.
Ivan Drury said neither he nor any of the other three activists who were arrested for obstruction of justice by Ridge Meadows RCMP last month have been charged by Crown prosecutors.
READ ALSO: Homeless activists march through Maple Ridge streets
READ ALSO: Police, bylaws clear homeless activist camp at Maple Ridge City Hall
On June 1, the activists with the group Maple Ridge Resistance gathered at Haney Nokia Park in the afternoon, and marched to Memorial Peace Park. Later in the evening, they attempted to camp at city hall.
There was a group of counter protesters, and the two groups hurled insults at each other.
At about 9 p.m. city bylaws officials and Community Safety Officers moved to dismantle the camp, supported by RCMP officers. It was then that Drury and three other activists were arrested.
Drury said they had been careful to operate legally.
“We weren’t breaking any laws when they arrested us,” he said. “We were exercising a protest.”
He called the arrests at the protest, and breakup of the camp “very heavy handed.”
“I would be glad to take this to court, and go to trial.”
The were only held for a few hours.
Drury, who was very active at the Anita Place Tent City, said they had no intention of starting a new tent city that night.
He said the Maple Ridge Resistance is calling for permanent social housing in the Maple Ridge.
“People have been abandoned here. They’ve been left to rose in temporary modular housing,” he said.
In Surrey, homeless people who were in “mods” have been moved into social housing, but other cities are seeing them stay in what he calls recommissioned mining site trailers.
The Resistance group will stay active, Drury saying they are “certainly going to respond” to the interruption of the last protest.
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