VPD oinkers get exercise beating homeless - update

Chaos erupted on the Downtown Eastside yesterday as City of Vancouver staff and firefighters started the process of clearing tents and structures from the sidewalk on Hastings Street. A confrontation by police led to a street battle as ever more cops flooded the area. Street people hate and do not trust the VPD for obvious reasons. Sending an army of asshole cops into the situation is a guaranteed recipie for conflict. BC Housing said that it has nowhere for people to go given the short notice provided by authorities.

'Aero' lives in a DTES alley. Aero said he was charged with assaulting police after he went to the aid of a friend trying to help a walker-dependent man who was on the ground and surrounded by cops. "We weren't trying to instigate anything," he said. "It was just they pushed down one of our [VANDU] members, and my colleague saw that happen, and he was trying to help him to get up. And then he got intercepted by cops and got beaten down. And then I saw that happen, so I tried to go and help him, and then I got thrown down, and I started getting beaten up." He said the charge was related to him allegedly biting an officer. Aero smiled to show he had no front teeth.

Randy Crossan says police pushed him to the ground.