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“We have been working with the City of Vancouver and monitoring the situation in the 800-block of Robson Street for several months now,” said Chow. “Our response has been incremental. However, at each stage, the vendors have refused to co-operate and concerns around public safety have increased. As such, we have had to escalate our response.”

Possessing and selling cannabis for non-medical purposes is currently illegal across the country. In July, the new federal Cannabis Act is expected to make it legal for adults over the age of 18 to possess up to 30 grams of cannabis.

Chow said there may have been a protest component to the market at one time, but it has morphed into a 24/7 illegal operation.

“I believe there was a component in the early days that was legitimately protesting. We police over 200-plus protests a year and we respect every individual’s right to protest but, let’s face it, these traffickers are there … walking out with thousands of dollars in their pocket,” he said.

“This is something we have to put a stop to.”

All those arrested Sunday were released on the condition they stay away from Robson Square. On Monday, Chow said a Vancouver man in his 20s was arrested for breaching his release condition when he returned to the site.

Vancouver police have faced increased pressure in recent days from both the public and media to enforce the law in the square, but Chow claims Sunday’s action was not in response to that.

“We have been working closely with federal Crown making sure we’ve done the incremental steps … gone through the warnings, gone through the bylaws, we’ve spoken to the vendors on a repeated basis,” said Chow. “Part of our discussion with Crown is to make sure we have all the evidentiary matters covered off before we go operationally, which we did over the last few days.”

The VPD says more arrests and charges are expected.

sbrown@postmedia.com, neagland@postmedia.com