Vancouver Officially Asks Occupiers to Move On

A letter posted to the campsite is the first step in getting the protesters evicted.

The city manager of Vancouver has posted a letter requesting that the Occupy protesters disband their tent city in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery. While it's not quite a legally binding order for the Occupiers to head elsewhere, the letter is the first step the city's taken under a local bylaw on land use to bring the nearly month-long occupation to an end. If the protesters don't comply with the notice, which calls for the handful of tents to be taken down "so that safety concerns related to the encampment can be addressed," the city could file for a court order to force the protesters out. If that's the case, Vancouver will be the first major city in the world to have its local Occupy protest shut down from above. Calls for the camp's closure increased this weekend after a 23-year-old woman died of a heroin overdose at the site. Organizers have questioned why that would be grounds for the camp's disbandment, as that sort of thing has a habit of happening somewhat regularly throughout downtown Vancouver.