Art gallery expected to continue protest tradition
By James Keller, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER - Two large stone lions quietly stare out onto the north lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery, keeping watch over the Olympic countdown clock and, more weekends than not, scores of protests and rallies that have made the site the city's answer to London's Hyde Park.
The spaces on either side of the century-old former courthouse regularly play host to anti-war rallies, political demonstrations and even a pair of annual marijuana smoke-ins.
During next month's Winter Games, the gallery could become the centre for anti-Olympic activism.
The police, the city and Olympic officials have said they'll leave the largest side of the gallery open during the Games by keeping it out of any security zones that would restrict activity, allowing protesters to use the art gallery's backyard as it's been used for decades.
There are few other spaces like it in Canada, serving as the de facto spot for protests and activist culture in the city, a tradition that traces its roots back to - when else - the 1960s.
The neo-classical building with its large imposing columns was completed in 1906 as the city's new courthouse, and the sweeping steps leading up to the north entrance along Georgia Street were a frequent setting for formal portraits and special ceremonies in the first half of the century.
Politics began to encroach on the space in the '60s, says Joan Seidl of the Museum of Vancouver, with rallies against the Vietnam War. There was concern over long-haired hippies hanging out on the lawn and bathing in the courthouse fountain.
"It seems to me that it's from that point that you start to see it actually used for protests,'' says Seidl, saying it's no coincidence that such activity gravitated towards the court building.
"From the mid-1960s, it's been identified as the place you go to voice your alternative opinions. It (the courthouse) represented the powers that be and the establishment.''
In the late 1960s, the city passed an anti-loitering bylaw and several people who were hanging out at the courthouse were arrested.
The arrests prompted loud accusations that the city was targeting people with long hair, and, says Seidl, solidified the spot as the default place for dissidents in Vancouver, even after it was converted into the art gallery in 1983.
Today, police say there are at least 50 protests and rallies a year on either side of the gallery, from massive demonstrations that attract thousands to small gatherings of a handful of people waving placards about all manner of topics.
The south side of the gallery, a small patch of sidewalk and steps along busy Robson Street, will be under several security restrictions during the Olympics and effectively off-limits to protesters, but Seidl says keeping the larger north lawn open is an important gesture.
"It just seems to me that it's acknowledging the historical uses of that space, and it's according them a certain kind of respect,'' says Seidl. "It will be interesting to see how it's used.''
The gallery has already seen Games-related protest, notably when the digital Olympic countdown clock was launched in February 2007. Protesters stormed the stage, shouting obscenities and pelting police with rocks, eggs and paint-filled balloons.
Olympic opponents are already planning at least one demonstration at the art gallery during the Olympics on Feb. 12, the day of the opening ceremonies.
Alissa Westergard-Thorpe of the Olympic Resistance Network says more could follow if police and the city make good on their promises to leave the space alone.
"It's one of the main places (for protests in Vancouver). I do hope that it is kept open,'' says Westergard-Thorpe.
"For people coming into the town, it would be nice for them to see that despite all of the attempts of the Olympic industry to shut people down and to silence us, people are still out expressing themselves.''
Westergard-Thorpe says the space has become a vital part of the city.
"Sometimes you go there and there's a demonstration on both sides, so that's a great sign that you have an active participatory society. It's extraordinarily important,'' she says.
Activists have accused the city, local police and the RCMP-led Olympic security unit of planning to clamp down on free speech during the Games, and have pledged to boycott so-called "safe assembly areas'' that will be set up near some venues specifically for protesters.
A civil rights advisory committee recommended in a report last month that the north lawn of the art gallery lawn be left open during the Olympics without designating it as an official protest zone - the designation would surely have kept protesters away.
Vancouver police say they'll treat the space as they do any other day - they'll keep watch over any protests simply to ensure they're safe and peaceful.
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http://www.ctvolympics.ca/about-vancouver/news/newsid=25009.html
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