Rally for more social housing turns into protest at Vancouver City Hall

A rally for better social housing turned into a protest at Vancouver City Hall Tuesday afternoon.

The protesters marched inside the building demanding time to talk before the morning council meeting, but they were denied.

The protest turned loud for a time, as protesters,outraged over the lack of social housing for the homeless, voiced their concerns.

Organizersurgedthe group tostay putand not disperse.

But instead of being forcibly removed from the building,the group wasallowed to occupy a committee room, where itformulateditsdemands.

The focus of the protest is a lot at 58 West Hastings where the group is demandingthe land be dedicated100 per cent to social housing.

Since Saturday, a tent city has sprung up at the West Hastings Street site one of two protests currently underwayin Metro Vancouver over the demolition of affordable housing.

The group VANDU, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, is leading the protest. The groupsays it advocates to improve the lives of people who use illicit drugs.

Mayor to meet with group

Vancouver MayorGregorRobertson agreed to meet with the grouplater Tuesday afternoon.

At that meeting, he agreed to meet with them on the Downtown Eastside sometime in the next two weeks to discuss their needs in more detail.

However, the mayor did not agree to install washroom facilities at the tent city on West Hastings.

In turn, Robertson asked the protesters to take down the tent city, whichthey refused.