Protesters gather at St. James Park on Monday. Photo by {a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/photopia/8092688906/in/pool-341900@N21/"}HiMY SYeD{/a}, from the {a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/torontoist/pool/"}Torontoist Flickr Pool{/a}.

Roughly two dozen protesters—and an almost equal number of reporters—gathered in St. James Park on Monday to mark Occupy Toronto‘s one year anniversary. The gathering, which featured all the flags, dogs, signs, and acoustic guitars that people have come to expect from the Occupy movement, felt like part protest and part class reunion.

“The goal for me is to just see old friends,” said Occupier Christopher Lambe. “I think this is a day where people are going to come to this park for years to come, for the rest of my life—to reconnect with all these old people and think about those 40 days. Because a lot happens when you’re living in such a small space with 200 other people, and it hasn’t really been done, and it was pretty interesting.”

Lambe said that no one organized the anniversary celebration, but that it developed in typical Occupy fashion out of a consensus in their online community. “We threw it out there and said ‘What do you want to do?’” he said. “’Do you want to come here and have an artful display? Make music, do paintings, have an art installation, and chat and reminisce?’ And everyone wiggled their fingers and said ‘Yeah!’ So we put it up on Facebook and did what we did.”

He added that the anniversary celebration was much more artistically minded than the original protest, with plays, music, and collaborative visual-art pieces. “Last year, roaming around with a bunch of signs and yelling our faces off didn’t really get the message across in the way we wanted it to, so this is probably a better way,” he said. “There’s going to be a play in the gazebo, and the script is all verbatim things that were said in the park over the 40 days. A journalist gathered all the quotes and put them together. So it’s our story, put together in a much better way than we could do it.”

While Lambe was upbeat about the gathering, other Occupiers were less sunny. Heidi Stoecklin was one of the members of Aurorans for World Peace who came down to commemorate Occupy Toronto. She blamed, among other things, the corporately-owned media for the poor turnout.

“The media didn’t give us any sort of lead-up or any sort of credit. If they’d talked about it, there would be way more people here,” she said, adding that some former Occupiers probably had their spirits broken in the past twelve months.

“The media is not there for the people, and the police are not there for the people. We saw a lot of the will of the people diminished in that time. The world saw that the corporations and the coppers and our fascist police state will win.”

Fellow protester Sonny Yeung seemed to disagree. He pointed out that many of the movement’s concerns have gained traction with governments over the last year.

“I think some of our issues have been addressed,” he said. “In Ontario, the NDP was able to pressure the Liberals so that those making more than $500,000 will be paying a 2 per cent surtax; in Quebec, the PQ government is interested in taxing the wealthy; and in the States, if Obama is reelected, he’ll let the Bush tax cuts expire.”

Lambe said that, 12 months after the fact, his major takeaway from Occupy Toronto has been this: Change doesn’t come from political systems. It comes from people.

“The solution to our problems isn’t about demanding change, or demanding something from those in politics. It’s about demanding something from ourselves; a more open heart, a more charitable heart, a more benevolent heart. It’s about changing within ourselves and who we are as a society.”

Protestor Pieter Basedow speaks to media after attending Barrick Gold's AGM.

Tuesday’s May Day protests and re-Occupation continued on into Wednesday as roughly 75 demonstrators, some of whom had camped out over night in Simcoe Park, protested Barrick Gold’s annual general meeting at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Toronto-based Barrick is the world’s largest gold-mining firm, and has been criticized for both its environmental practices and its dealings with indigenous peoples near some of its mines.

The event was, for the most part, relatively low key, with protesters listening to speeches from environmental activists and representatives of people affected by Barrick’s overseas operations. The lone moment of excitement came when the group crossed the street in an attempt to confront Barrick shareholders. They had heard that shareholders were being directed to leave via the Intercontinental Hotel, though when they arrived, they were greeted by a line of police, but few others. Undeterred, they stood outside the hotel for roughly 20 minutes while chanting slogans and delivering amplified speeches.

Sakura Saunders is both a member of Occupy Toronto and the co-editor of Protest Barrick, a web site dedicated to drawing attention to the company’s environmental and human rights record. She says that the fact her group didn’t get to speak to any shareholders is not a failure, but proof that they’re doing something right. “We went down there in force and we’re chanting very loudly with loudspeakers into the Intercontinental Hotel, and not very many shareholders came out, and I can only assume they redirected them to another entrance,” she said. “But when the shareholders have to be escorted by police and entrances have to be shut off, then you know we’re doing our job, because of the great lengths they’re going to to avoid the truth.”

Inside the AGM, a protest of a different sort was taking place: two protesters attended the AGM as proxies for shareholders. They both read statements from people who say they have had their lives dramatically altered as a result of Barrick’s operations. (A third protester, who had travelled from a Barrick-affected community in Tanzania, also attempted to attend the meeting as a proxy, but wasn’t allowed in.) One of those proxies, Pieter Basedow, a member of Science for Peace, says that while the protest outside the meeting was important, it’s equally important for concerned parties to be representatives inside the meeting.

“Shareholder activism is something that’s very effective in Europe,” he said. “I come from Germany originally, and I sat on the board of several companies in Germany. This is something that needs to be done outside of the [traditional] protests. The shareholders and pension funds need to know.”

Saunders said that, while she has been protesting Barrick’s AGM and bringing in representatives of affected communities for five years, she’s never seen this much media attention at a Barrick protest before, something she can only attribute to Protest Barrick’s teaming up with Occupy.

“We’re really thankful for the support of the Occupy movement,” she said. “Impacted communities have been coming to Barrick shareholder meetings…but the press ignores them. But for some reason, with Occupy here, we get the necessary attention to these communities speaking about their experiences living next to the mines. We’re so thankful that we’ve gotten more presence than we’ve ever gotten before.”

Photo by Dean Bradley/Torontoist.

Tuesday’s May Day protests, organized by a variety of groups—including No One is Illegal, the May 1st Movement, and Occupy Toronto—had a little something for everyone.

For those who like to mix their politics with a sense of whimsy, there was a giant human chess game, as well as some guerilla gardening. Fans of fiery speeches would have had more than their fill at the Nathan Phillips Square rally, while people who feel that any good revolution involves dancing would have been impressed by the constant pounding of anti-capitalist samba group Rhythms of Resistance. If, on the other hand, you just wanted some non-violent civil disobedience ending in arrest, there was some of that, too.

Lighter Fare

May Day—also known as International Workers’ Day—kicked off at 11 a.m. with the Occupy-sponsored Operation Chess Magik, a human chess game/performance that took place in a largely empty Nathan Phillips Square. Naturally, the game ended with the pawns banding together, rising up, and turning on those who attempt to play them against each other.

According to Occupy’s Lana Goldberg, Chess Magik was born out of a desire to show the exploitation of working people in a creative, unexpected way.

“It seemed like a good idea to take a game where there’s a king and a queen and pawns, because that’s how the one per cent act,” she said. “[It seems like] the rules are set, you can only move in certain directions, the king is the most powerful… but actually when people come together, they have the power to take control.”

Chess Magik was followed by the Occupy Garden Party. Half meal break, half guerilla gardening exercise, it saw a few dozen protesters break bread on Queen’s Park’s south lawn, before heading to the north lawn to dump several bags of topsoil on the ground and plant crops while singing “Give Peas a Chance.”

“We wanted to bring people together…in a celebration of life, but also to raise awareness of food issues, and also to inspire people to join us in planting no less than 99 gardens around the city today,” said Garden Party co-organizer Jacob Kearey-Moreland. “We’ve got grandmas, little kids, people from every age and background getting dirty in the gardens today.”

Rallies, Marches, Songs

Operation Chess Magik and the Garden Party may have only attracted a few dozen protesters, but the rally at Nathan Phillips Square and subsequent march to Alexandria Park attracted a few thousand.

Speakers from No One is Illegal, the May 1st Movement, Stop the Cuts, Afghans for Peace, and several other organizations whipped up the crowd with speeches denouncing a wide variety of injustices, including “imperialist wars,” austerity measures, racist immigration policies, and a lack of respect for workers’ rights. The crowd was also repeatedly reminded that this protest, as well as everything else in the city, was taking place on land stolen from native peoples.

After the speeches had concluded and a massive banner had been dropped from the pedestrian bridge above Queen Street, the rally turned into a march. The massive, slow-moving parade from the Square to the park wound its way west along Queen Street, up Spadina, then west on Dundas, led by a colour guard holding various First Nations flags and accompanied by the percussive soundtrack of Rhythms of Resistance, and also protest chants that were occasionally too long to be effective. (“Lock up [Immigration Minister Jason] Kenney, throw away the keys. Justice for immigrants, freedom for refugees,” was just too much for a call-and-response chant.) The procession stopped every few minutes, usually to allow the back of the march to catch up. At Queen and Spadina everyone paused for a fifteen-minute mini sit-in and some chalk drawing.

At Alexandria Park, the protesters were treated to a wide variety of musical entertainment, including revolutionary raps, acoustic Cee-Lo covers and more drumming.

Occupy’s Sakura Saunders says the march and rally exceeded expectations.

“Turnout today was amazing,” she said. “We had three-to-five thousand in the streets, and that was great. That’s the biggest May Day we’ve ever had.”

Saunders says that Occupy was happy to give the assist to No One is Illegal, who have been organizing May Day celebrations in Toronto for the last six years.

“We’re always having people come to our general assemblies and ask if we can endorse such and such a march,” she said. “Generally there’s a little bit of discussion, but most of the time we say yes and show up with an Occupy contingent…It’s an open space that we’re creating, so people can come into that space and get support for whatever social injustice they’re trying to remedy.”

Re-Occupation

Shortly after 9 p.m., the protest took to the streets again, accompanied by a huge number of police. This time, the crowd headed south and east towards the still-undisclosed re-occupation site. They came to a stop at Simcoe Park, a small park on Front Street, across from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The Convention Centre will play host to Barrick Gold’s Annual General Meeting later today, a meeting Occupy plans to protest due to Barrick’s history of questionable environmental practices and displacing people near their mine sites.

Police warned protesters that they would not be allowed to set up tents in the park, due to a City bylaw that bans camping and the erection of structures there. After much people’s-mic-enabled discussion of how to proceed—one suggestion was that people should simply stand and hold a tarp in the air while other people slept underneath it—some of the oldest occupiers opted to test the police officers’ resolve and take matters in to their own hands. The Occupy chaplains attempted to erect a chapel tent in the middle of the park, and after ignoring a police command to stop, all three were arrested. The arrest prompted the crowd to cry “Shame,” and things like, “Your children are fucking embarrassed of you,” to the police, who hustled the three senior protesters away.

“Two women and one man were charged with engaging in a prohibited act,” said Constable Tony Vella. “They’ve been arrested. They’re going to be charged with a provincial offence—it’s not a Criminal Code offence—and issued a fine.”

Occupy’s Ben Hirsch says the occupation was a success, not only in spite of the arrests, but also because of them.

“It’s so inspiring that three of our eldest members here today—chaplains, people of God, peaceful people…made that decision really consciously,” he said. “It’s a flawed system, and it’s ridiculous that this is a crime, but within that system, they made that decision [to get arrested] and they’re OK with it, and I’m OK with it.”

Protesters gather at the original occupation of St. James Park. Photo by Todd Aalgaard/Torontoist.

With just four activists speaking to roughly a dozen members of the media (and one confused security guard) from behind a plexiglass podium, this morning’s announcement of the Toronto’s May Day events—a day of protests co-organized by the May 1st Movement, Occupy Toronto and No One is Illegal—was a bit anti-climatic.

That said, the announcement wasn’t without highlights, the major one being a march from Alexandra Park to an undisclosed site for a 24-hour “re-occupation” in the vein of Occupy Toronto, which the press kit called “Occupy the Heart of the Beast.” The next morning, activists will gather outside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to protest Barrick Gold‘s annual general meeting.

“Mining is actually one of Canada’s biggest industries, and it’s played the same role in Canada as have banks in the United States,” said Syed Hussan, a member of No One is Illegal and media liaison for Toronto’s May Day events. “That, to us, seems like a very pertinent moment.”

May 1 is International Workers Day, popularly known as May Day. The day marks the anniversary of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre, in which police in Chicago killed several workers who were striking in support of the eight-hour work day. The holiday, which is not officially recognized in Canada, has traditionally been associated with unions, but has become a rallying point for anti-globalization activists in recent years.

Occupy Toronto’s Lana Goldberg said that May Day is a chance for Torontonians to add to what she views as a growing global sentiment.

“Building on the uprising in North Africa and the Arab world, the indignados of Spain, the battle in Wisconsin and now the inspiring student movement in Quebec, we will march and we will re-occupy, inaugurating the Toronto spring,” she said.

May Day organizers were careful to point out that they aren’t interested in the sort of violence that has characterized some of those uprisings. But they do want people to be inspired by the revolutionary spirit that sparked them.

“We’re focusing on building an exciting, entertaining, family-friendly event, and building involvement in our community,” said Hussan.

In that spirit, several non-traditional protest events have been added to the agenda, the most notable one being Operation Chess Magik.

“It’s a giant chess game that will take place in the heart of downtown Toronto,” said Goldberg. “It’s a creative action that will spark some talk, plus action, about the 1 per cent dominating the 99 per cent.”

May 1st Movement representative Pablo Vivanco says that while May Day is an opportunity for working people to speak out against government budget cuts and austerity measures that affect their daily lives, its goal is bigger.

“This May Day, we’re calling on people to realize the deep political crisis that is capitalism,” he said. “It is becoming increasingly clear from what we are witnessing in places like Spain, Greece, Italy and the United States that shifting the chairs on this boat will not stop it from sinking further.”

For more information on May Day events, search for #May1TO on Twitter.

WHERE: The west side of Nathan Phillips Square

WHEN: January 18, 10 p.m.

WHAT: In the aftermath of Tuesday’s budget vote and the simultaneous protest in Nathan Phillips Square, a small group of protesters set up camp in the hopes of restarting Occupy Toronto; about a dozen tents are now up near City Hall. One camper told Torontoist photographer Corbin Smith that this was a “second go of occupy Toronto” with a smaller, core group of protesters taking up residence in the tents. As for any plans or goals, the protester suggested that they’ll “ride this one out” and see where it takes them.

WHERE: St. James Park, at King and Church streets

WHEN: 12–1 p.m. today

WHAT: One of the major arguments the City of Toronto made when it went to court to get permission to evict the Occupy Toronto camp from St. James Park was that they needed to prepare the park for winter. They also, once that eviction took place, needed to repair the damage caused by weeks of camping. Though there was some heated political rhetoric about the tens of thousands of dollars this would cost the good taxpayers of Toronto (free speech apparently being great so long as it doesn’t cost us anything), as it turns out it didn’t cost a dime: Landscape Ontario and the Nursery Sod Growers of Ontario donated both the sod (12 tractor trailers–worth) and the labour needed to lay it. That process was completed today, and by early afternoon the much-lamented dog-owners were back in the park, walking their pooches once more.

November 23 in Nathan Phillips Square: Occupy Toronto gathers for their regular general assembly for the first time since being evicted from St. James Park.

Dave Vasey is what one might call a seasoned protester; he was arrested twice during the G20 protests (“I was the G20 fence guy,” he explains with a low chuckle), and had been camping at the Occupy Toronto protest site at St. James Park from the camp’s mid-October setup until last week’s eviction. While the physical campsite may no longer exist, Vasey is still moved by the unique convergence of people and interests he witnessed there.

“It was one of the more interesting spaces I’ve ever been in,” he says. “The organizing was, like, everyone. Nationalists, anarchists, Marxists, libertarians, atheists, hippies, white middle-class kids, inner-city community folks, homeless—it was a crazy space of interaction and conversation. You were never bored at Occupy, that’s for sure.”

It’s a diversity that Vasey hopes will continue as the movement moves on—and move it will, he says, in spite of losing a designated physical gathering space. Rallies have taken place in the days following the park’s clearing, and more public actions are in the works. Protesters are looking ahead, in spite of the post-eviction sting.

“In a way it kind of feels like there was a bit of a defeat,” Vasey acknowledges. “But marginalized people throughout the world—and we’re working with some of the most marginalized people in Toronto—don’t have that ability to give up. So we’ve got to keep going and building the resistance. We’re challenging power here. In a non-violent way, but in a firm way.”

“People are taking back a lot of different public spaces,” says Rebecca Granovsky-Larsen, a York University graduate student who was an occasional camper at Occupy and helped to run the site’s Free Skool, a centre for wide-ranging skill-shares and facilitated discussions. “For example, the University of Toronto students are organizing a whole series of events and possible occupations of public spaces.”

Public space reclamation continues to be a primary goal within the movement, in addition to rallies and discussion. “Hopefully we’re working towards a re-occupation,” says Vasey, but he admits the logistics are fuzzy; it’s still unclear whether the re-occupation will be immediate or held off until the spring, and where it would take place.

Despite the uncertainties plaguing the protesters, community support continues.”We’re still planning on coming out to a lot of events,” says Jesse Ovadia, a member of the Toronto chapter of Rhythms of Resistance, an international network of drumming groups that plays at demonstrations and direct actions and, locally, has been closely involved with Occupy.

“We’ve all organized together to come out and support at different events. We were out there at the beginning on the first day, and came out roughly once a week to help out and play music for the group. We attended a bunch of the rallies and the marches that they went on to help energize.”

While Ovadia can’t say what exactly is next for the movement, he knows Rhythms of Resistance will remain present. “We expect that in the next phase, we’ll still be involved.”

Vasey, too, remains optimistic about the next phase—whatever that may end up looking like. “We’re going to continue to build and grow,” he says.

A man enjoys two forms of sunshine in St. James Park during the late 1970s. The park was partly conceived to provide a spot for office workers to relax during their lunch hour. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 200, Series 1465, File 302, Item 4.

With the eviction of Occupy Toronto, St. James Park will gradually return to its former, emptier condition. But the temporary landscaping changes the protesters created with their signs, tents, and yurts did not constitute the first physical redesign of the park. Over the course of the past 50 years, as this gallery shows, the site has gone from housing 19th-century commercial buildings to Victorian-inspired landscaping.

Protesters keeping things calm around 7 a.m. this morning.

Despite fears that police would move aggressively against the Occupy Toronto camp in St. James Park, today’s early morning move by officers to begin clearing out the tents has been markedly slow, measured, and calm. “The most polite assertion of fascism I’ve ever seen,” cracked one protester—and indeed officers have been saying “please” a lot this morning.

The police presence is substantial—officers arrived in several buses, many cruisers, on bikes, and in a mobile command vehicle—but has been characterized by all as very civil. Though it’s too soon to tell how this will end, especially since a knot of protesters is still surrounding the library yurt and expressing their determination to stay, events so far have been reassuring to many in and out of the park, at least temporarily quelling fears of a repeat of G20 violence.

Police have reassured Occupiers that they will be able to return to the park and continue their political protest once the camp has been dismantled, and a general assembly is planned, as usual, for noon today.

5:03 PM: City statement about today’s events, issued at 4:45 p.m.:

Just before 7 this morning, City staff entered St. James Park supported by the Toronto Police Service, who asked that protesters cooperate peacefully and remove all tents and structures. They were also asked to refrain from gathering in the park overnight from 12:01 a.m. to 5:30 a.m.

Our goal today was to remove tents and structures so that the park could be made safe for the enjoyment of all residents. A team of 100 City staff and 30 vehicles from Parks, Forestry & Recreation, Solid Waste, Municipal Licensing and Standards, Fire Services, Emergency Medical Services, Public Health and Shelter, Support and Housing Administration worked together to remove materials from the park and, with police, help to bring this situation to a safe and orderly conclusion.

The City expects that the majority of the cleanup will be completed this evening. We wanted to facilitate this peacefully and I am pleased that by and large this has been accomplished.

The clean-up is ongoing. We won’t have a sense of the costs of the clean-up or damage to the park until the work is completed. After the park is cleared, Parks, Forestry & Recreation staff will assess the damage and begin to make plans to restore the park. This will include estimates for restoration.

This has been a massive undertaking, given that the protesters have been in the park for five weeks. Staff will continue to clean and restore the park grounds and will winterize the sprinkler system. It will take a few days to do this work.

Tents and other belongings have all been numbered and inventoried so that they can be claimed by their owners. Starting on Friday, these can be picked up weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Friday, December 2 at 50 Booth Avenue. Flyer.

The City respects people’s right to protest and people are welcome to gather in City parks to do this. But we ask that people respect the Court’s decision released on Monday. Tents, shelters and other structures are not allowed in City parks at any time. No City park can be used between 12:01 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. and the City will be enforcing this bylaw.

Shelter, Support and Housing Administration staff have helped several vulnerable people today who have been staying at St. James Park. Outreach staff and public health nurses have been in the park for anyone needing help, and drove some who lacked transportation to where they needed to go in the GTA.

In addition, City staff were at the Adelaide Women’s Resource Centre at 6 this morning and will be there until 9 o’clock tonight to help anyone who may need assistance with shelter, housing or other supports. After today, Streets to Homes staff will check the park as part of their routine outreach activities. In addition, people can stop by 129 Peter Street 24/7 to access shelter and other supports.

The City of Toronto thanks the protesters for their cooperation to ensure this clean-up of the park was peaceful.

City Manager Joseph Pennachetti thanks City staff and the Toronto Police Service for their extraordinary efforts in pulling together quickly to restore the park and make it safe and enjoyable again for all residents.

4:17 PM: From the Grid‘s Ed Keenan: “All standoffs appear to be over. Last remaining structure being dismantled. Drummers still drumming.”

4:04 PM: Over the past hour a few flare-ups of tension as police try to negotiate with the last few Occupiers refusing to leave the camp. The library tent, now empty of books, is the remaining main structure, and City workers have just started dismantling it. There have also been a proteter or two climing trees, and a few more detained by police—though officers say most will be released without charges (though they will be receiving trespassing tickets.) HD

2:48 PM: There are still a few protesters at the gazebo. Right now conflicting reports about whether or not they’ve agreed to leave. We’ll update as that situation becomes clearer, but as things quiet down in the park so will this liveblog. Another batch of photos later this afternoon, too. HD

1:55 PM: Will be extremely interesting to see how this very measured evacuation of Occupy Toronto changes broader discussions of policing in Toronto. People have been saying all along that the police knew they had a fine line to walk here, and were very careful not to antagonize. The question is will it actually work in terms of restoring at least some of the faith that was lost last year. HD

1:49 PM: Police to media: “at least three-quarters of the park” has been cleared of tents, expect remainder will be cleared soon. HD

1:43 PM: Discussions between police and Occupiers at gazebo seem to be done. Some of the Occupiers are packing up. HD

1:39 PM: Solid ring of officers around the gazebo now. Police are negotiating with the Occupiers inside. Removal of books from the library well underway, with a human book chain expediting the process. HD

1:25 PM: Next step for police: moving on the gazebo. Those inside have received a 30 minute warning from officers, who are forming a perimeter around it. Meanwhile, police also telling us that those who were detained earlier will be released without charge if they stay calm. CD

1:17 PM: “At some point, the actions and discussions that protect the camp become removed from the actions and discussions that address the society-wide issues the camp was built to publicize.” Ed Keenan at the Grid with some thoughts on where the Occupation should go from here.

1:09 PM: More details on library evacuation from the Star, which apparently was the result of a negotiated agreement: “Police and protesters calmly, rationally and seriously negotiated a resolution to the issue of the barricaded library yurt. Supt. Jay Tanouye called the yurt ‘the St. James library.’ The protesters and the police thanked each other, shook hands and smiled. ‘The books will not be destroyed; we will take care of them,’ Tanouye said, and again thanked the protesters. HD

1:03 PM: Spacing editor Shawn Micallef: “Another body removed. Very physical. Obscured view — lots of yanking. And another body. Helicopter sounds above. People running to fortified yurt library. Others yell to get back to arrest scene. Humans climb out of library.”

12:53 PM: Police van backed up near tent with some remaining protesters—we believe the fire tent. Police making arrests now. HD

12:47 PM: CityNews is reporting that the protesters who had chained themselves to the library tent have left. HD

12:26 PM: It’s generally a bit of a sad scene in the park by now. Feeble anti-Ford chants. An abandoned food station, stacks of dirty plates and all. Final tents (besides the fortified one) getting packed up. KK

12:02 PM: Sid Ryan and many OFL supporters starting to make their way out of the park. Ryan says he brought OFL to the park to make sure that there was no violence involved in the evacuation of St. James Park. “I thought the police are doing very well, they’re taking a very low-key approach. Much different than the G20,” he says. OFL marching back over to their convention at Queen and University. HD

11:56 AM: And now, “Kumbaya.” Some clean-up work still proceeding. The protesters who are chained in the library tent are telling reporters that they don’t have the keys to unlock themselves—they couldn’t leave even if they wanted to. HD

11:51 AM: “Mic check!” “This movement cannot be killed because of an eviction notice.” Speakers calling for peace, asking protesters not to engage with police. OFL says they will stay “for a while” until they need to return to their convention. HD

11:43 AM: OFL supporters have just arrived from their convention, being held at the Sheraton Centre. Police have formed a circle around the tents that remain in the park. Many blue flags waved by the OFL, several hundred new people now in the park. HD

11:36 AM: Currently being sung: “The people have the power / Occupy, Occupy / And now has come our hour / Occupy, Occupy.” Many many verses. Also, Occupy representatives are saying that many CUPE supporters are on their way, will be joining them in the park soon. HD

11:18 AM: CityNews is reporting that police have told those Occupiers still in and around the library yurt that they have until sundown to remove it, and themselves. HD

11:10 AM: True to their word, police have released the woman they detained a few minutes ago. She is, thus far, the only Occupier to be arrested today. HD

10:59 AM: Police now speaking with Occupiers. Woman has been arrested, for trespassing on Jarvis Street. She will be released shortly. Using people’s mic to answer questions from the protesters. HD

10:56 AM: Woman now detained in police van. HD

10:51 AM: One woman has been removed from the park by police. She is currently surround by officers on the sidewalk. No arrest confirmed however. HD

10:15 AM: “As the yurt’s soft inner layer is removed, tiny strands of fur from an unknown Mongolian animal waft through the park.” [via @Jonathan Goldsbie]

10:07 AM: Police expecting “eight or less” arrests, according to CityNews. (You can watch their livestream here.) Tent removal proceeding apace. Primarily City workers in the park, police officers on the periphery. HD

9:34 AM: Official release from the City of Toronto this morning, in full:

At approximately 6:30 this morning, City staff entered St. James Park, supported by the Toronto Police Service to remove all tents and structures and to post notices asking protesters to refrain from gathering in the park from 12:01 am to 5:30 a.m. The City’s goal today is to remove tents and structures and make the park safe for the enjoyment of all residents. Our intent is to facilitate this peacefully.

Shelter, Support and Housing Administration staff will continue to be available at the Adelaide Women’s Resource Centre to assist anyone who may need assistance with shelter, housing or other supports.

9:32 AM: “Mic check!” Man offering a quantity of food he’s collected “to anyone who can keep it from being thrown in the garbage.” HD

9:13 AM: Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday on the phone with CityNews: “Hopefully saner heads will prevail”—regarding the Occupiers who are saying they are determined to stay and protect the library. HD

8:59 AM: On the gazebo, a guy with a ukulele and another with a bongo keep the tunes coming. CD

8:28 AM: Police using the Human Mic to make their announcement. “The police are now asking for your cooperation in complying with this order by removing your belongings and vacating this park.” Asking again for people to leave via the northwest corner of the park. “Anyone in need of shelter, support, or assistance is invited to go to the Adelaide Women’s Resource Centre at 67 Adelaide Street East.” Someone gave the officer making all the announcements a flower. CD

8:19 AM: Another police announcement, confirming protesters will be free to resume political expression once the park has been cleared of the camp. CD

8:00 AM: Mood is still calm as church bells ring out, marking the hour. Protesters thanking each other for their efforts as City crews continue working on the clean up effort. The media yurt is now nearly empty as well. HD

7:52 AM: “We support 416! Please support Occupy!” Protesters to City workers doing clean-up at the park, saying they have right to refuse this work. CB

7:43 AM: “It does not seem / that we have the cavalry coming / to protect these yurts. They will be destroyed / unless we remove and dismantle them.” At the Human Mic, planning to take the yurt down; they’ve been told they have an hour to work on that. “We will reoccupy! We but can’t lose everything that we’ve worked so hard to build.” OPSEU sending help to work on dismantling yurt.

7:37 AM: In the park as daylight spreads, a few smiles:

Photos by Christopher Drost/Torontoist.

7:26 AM: Things are fairly uneventful at the moment. Remnants of food tent being loaded into City garbage truck. Mood is somewhere between resigned and resolute, with the exception of more strident protesters at the library. CB

7:06 AM: Numbers being affixed to tents: 2-5, 2-9, and so on. “I guess this is the way Canadian evictions go.” Protester commenting on police photographing, tagging, but not (yet) removing belongings. HD

7:00 AM: Bylaw officers on site as well, checking the tents. And…CORRECTION: spray cans appear to be construction/spray paint, not pepper spray.

6:58 AM: Police have now withdrawn from portions of the park. Also, confirmed that some are carrying pepper spray. Chant of the moment: “Whose library? Our library!” Funny aside: cop, slipping in the mud. “You’re not going to put that on YouTube, are you?” CB

6:56 AM: Toronto Star reporter Niamh Scallan: “Cops headed toward church beside yurt. Turned off generator.” Also, police have been towing media vehicles, but just around the corner. HD

6:55 AM: Police tow trucks are removing media trucks. DB

6:48 AM: Police now circling the hill that’s west of the gazebo, going around the tents. Going to individual tents right now, knocking on tents and asking people to leave. Looks like anything more intense will be at the library. (Very difficult to tell the police/protester/media ratio, but police in the park itself don’t appear to be outnumbering protesters.) No violent altercations, so far polite, slow and steady progress. CB

6:45 AM: Police officers in the line on the south side slowly moving into the park. Protesters: “This is what injustice looks like!” East side officers seem to be staying put. More chants: “Whose park? Our park!” CB

6:43 AM: Police announcement number now happening. Asking people to exit park via northwest corner of the park. CB

6:41 AM: 15-20 protesters assembled in front of the library, looking resolute. Looks like they’re not planning to go anywhere. CB

6:38 AM: Second police announcement. They will be “facilitating an orderly removal of all structures from the park in accordance with the court decision.” CB

6:34 AM: Police over the loudspeaker asking Occupiers to leave the park. Occupy responds: “Thank you for being here on such a beautiful morning.” Officers are armed, but not in riot gear (no shields or helmets). CB

6:32 AM: “Stay in groups!” Occupy Toronto marshall talking remaining protesters through tactics for handling police. HD Officials are moving the portable toilets out. CB

6:29 AM: Police also lined up on the east side of the park; looks like they might be planning an L-shaped movement to try to force people out. CB From Star reporter Brendan Kennedy: “Nice and easy, guys,” Sgt. tells officers. “It’s a filter, so you can let ppl come and go.”

6:26 AM: About 40 officers in yellow jackets proceeding west along King on foot. Assembling in a line on King Street. CB

6:17 AM: Via Torontoist alumni Jonathan Goldsbie: “Streetcars being allowed through. Passengers confused. Streetcar passenger offers fight-the-power fist shake.”

6:15 AM: Tour buses full of officers now parking on King. CB

6:09 AM: Streetlights are on, cruisers lined up. A Star reporter is noting that the officers he’s seen are wearing soft hats, not riot gear/helmets. A thought: if—if—police wanted to move past G20 anger, a well-leaked, thoroughly covered, slower-than-expected operation might help. That is entirely contingent on how they actually interact with people in the park in the coming hours though. HD

6:02 AM: Large mobile command unit truck blocking off Jarvis Street at King. DB And now a police press release: the following road closures are in effect until further notice—

• Jarvis Street, between Richmond Street East and King Street East
• King Street East, between Jarvis Street and Church Street
• Adelaide Street East, between Jarvis Street and Church Street

5:59 AM: Police cruiser blocking off street access at Adelaide and Church. CB

5:58 AM: “Can you tell those guys to hurry up? All night we’ve been waiting!” An Occupier cracking jokes about publicly funding police taking their time. HD

5:54 AM: Video services unit just arrived at the park. CB

5:44 AM: Coach bus with hazards blinking just left 51 Division. CB

5:43 AM: Silent meditation in the gazebo. HD

5:37 AM: Sidenote: this is day 40 of the Occupation. So, 40 days and 40 nights, if you’re into biblical jokes. HD

5:35 AM: At 51 Division a mobile command centre has been set up; much more activity than even 40 minutes ago. Emergency logistics support vehicle present. CB

Photo by Christopher Drost/Torontoist

5:31 AM: Deadline’s passed, now legally permitted to assemble in parks. (Camping prohibited at all times.) At the gazebo, belting out Auld Lang Syne. HD

5:28 AM: A general assembly has been called for 5:30 a.m., when the prohibition on gathering in City parks is lifted for the day. HD

5:17 AM: Still no police in evidence in the park. The bylaw prohibits assembling from midnight to 5:30 a.m., so if officers arrive after 5:30 might they remove the tents but not the protesters themselves? Meanwhile, the drums are still going strong. Photos from the gazebo a few moments ago… HD

Photos by Christopher Drost/Torontoist

5:13 AM: From Occupy Toronto’s response to the court decision:

We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision… This should in no way be considered a defeat but as a sign that we must bring this movement to the next level. We will continue to work together, not just as a movement but as a community to build a better future not just for you, not just for us, but for the whole human family and our future generations. The Occupation is spreading and the people united will never be defeated.

5:00 AM: “Mic check!” “I love you guys!” “I love you women!” Gearing up for police arrival at the people’s mic. HD

4:55 AM: Buses at police hq have their lights flashing, seem to be getting ready to leave. We’re heading back down to the park in anticipation. One last shot of police loading gear onto their vehicles… CB

4:46 AM: Meanwhile, at the camp still a steady drum beat going, and a few people dancing a bit. HD

4:43 AM: Buses and paddy wagons have just shown up [at police headquarters]. CB

Police vehicles assembling behind headquarters at College and Bay. Photo by Christopher Drost/Torontoist.

4:38 AM: Still at police headquarters. More cars have pulled in including special operations supervisor’s car and a public safety car. CB

4:30 AM: Police cars, about six or seven, assembling at the back of police headquarters at College and Bay; looks like more are arriving. CB

4:27 AM: “I can’t imagine myself living the apathetic life I was living before.” Occupy Toronto protesters speaking to the livestream camera. HD

4:27 AM: Twitter chatter is that police are mobilizing at the College and Bay headquarters; sending someone there now to investigate. HD

4:24 AM: City Hall is also a ghost town. CB

4:22 AM: At last night’s general assembly protesters decided they would meet again today at noon, if possible in St. James Park and if not in Nathan Phillips Square. HD

4:15 AM: Report from Adelaide: more police cars driving around, people starting get nervous police. DB

4:10 AM: And now, spotting a large white tour bus heading down Adelaide. Suspicion is that it might be full of officers.

4:07 AM: 51 Division headquarters looks quiet, Dundas Square is empty, Allan Gardens is empty. Essentially, every place that we know of that police might assemble to stage a large raid is right now looking empty. CB

3:54 AM: One police vehicle and a second unmarked car have just pulled up by the park, but there’s no heavy police presence yet. CB

3:30 AM: Nobody is sleeping in the Occupy Toronto camp tonight. It’s cold, for starters, with a fine coat of freezing rain over everything. And more urgently: last night Global reported that police would be forcibly evicting protesters in a 4 a.m. raid. Most protesters had gradually been leaving the park since Monday morning, when a judge decided that the City of Toronto was within its rights to remove the camp if it chose, but a small contingent of a few dozen—most expressing a willingness to be arrested, if need be—have stuck around. Two are chained to the library yurt—now fortified with wooden pallets and other campsite materials—while many of the rest are currently taking shelter in the park’s central gazebo. Hanging over it all: the spectre of the G20, which soured many Torontonians’ relationship with and perceptions of the local police force, and has left Occupiers bracing for the use of force. HD

Yesterday was full of fraught moments for Occupy Toronto, beginning at 9 a.m. when Ontario Superior Court Justice David Brown released his decision on the camp, finding that the City of Toronto could proceed with removing the camp if it chose. The mayor gave a press conference, as did church officials, and bylaw officers paid another visit to St. James to deliver more eviction notices. Midnight came and went without incident, however, and today the camp, though smaller, is still there.