26 people have been arrested after police say they occupied an abandoned school to protest a lack of housing in Nanaimo

NANAIMO (NEWS 1130) – A number of people taking issue with the housing situation in the Nanaimo area have been arrested.

Nanaimo RCMP Constable Gary O’Brien says upwards of 26 protesters had broken into and occupied a vacant elementary school late Friday into Saturday, apparently protesting a lack of affordable options in that city.

“There were a lot of factors for officers to consider, and one was the unknown factor of whether there’s any weapons in the building, or if there’s any booby traps,” he says. “So taking that into consideration, we utilized our Vancouver Island tactical response team, our emergency response team, and we also used police dog services. These members, along with numerous general duty officers entered the building around 10:30 a.m., engaged with the protesters, and by 2:00 p.m. all had been removed.”

Cst. O’Brien says there was, however, a slight hitch since many of the demonstrators made their way to the roof of the building. Officers were able to reach them after Nanaimo Fire and Rescue was able to loan crews a truck with an extension ladder.

“Each was taken one by one off and taken into the Nanaimo detachment where they are currently in custody,” he tells NEWS 1130.

The situation did draw some attention. Cst. O’Brien says members of the Soldiers of Odin were at the school on Friday, as well as Saturday, to show their opposition to those protesting inside the school.

“They were very supportive of the police action, and they were not supportive in any way of the people in the building and they were like the many hundreds that surrounded the school [Saturday] and were very supportive of the actions taken by police and just wanted the situation to be dealt with and the individuals removed.”

He estimates at least 300 people who opposed the protest gathered around the school on both sides of the building.

“The overwhelming majority were very supportive of police action, and they were actually loudly cheering when these individuals were removed from the school and taken into police custody.”

The protesters first occupied the building Friday afternoon.

Cst. O’Brien says there are a number of reasons why police took a while to enter the building, but highlights safety as the main one. “Officer safety is paramount. We didn’t know exactly how many people we were dealing with. We didn’t know if they had weapons, whether there’s any booby traps in the building.”

A total of 26 people have been arrested, all for break and enter and mischief. It will now be up to the Crown to decide whether it wants to proceed with charges against the protesters.

O’Brien admits the protest appeared to be ‘very organized’, with many of the individuals even using walkie-talkies to communicate. He believes the protesters may have also assumed police resources would be thinner over a long weekend.

The school that demonstrators occupied had been shut down at the end of June and was recently boarded up, O’Brien adds.

The protesters did not have authorized to be in the building, he explains.

“Often the situation could turn sideways where they may be starting fires, they may be causing damage. The proprietors of the building are the school district… we were in contact with the school district early [Friday] night and they let us know in writing that they did not want those individuals in the building and that they had no qualms about the RCMP going in and removing them. With that in mind, that’s exactly what we did.”

No one was hurt.