In World Cup shadows, Vancouver's vulnerable communities fear sweeps and raids

VANCOUVER, CANADA, July 6 : The World Cup has brought glitz and glamour to Vancouver, but as the western Canadian city seeks to show its best side to the world, some locals say it has also led to early-morning raids and what they describe as more aggressive policing of people experiencing homelessness and drug problems.

On the morning of the recent last-32 game between Switzerland and Algeria, people sleeping in tents and on benches in Oppenheimer Park, not far from BC Place stadium, said they were awoken early by city staff in a sweep that moved much faster than usual. 

"We were just sitting there over here with one tarp there, and all of a sudden, four (park) ranger pickups, big white trucks, showed up with a big city loader truck, and within 10 minutes, they had cops right behind them," Harley "Two Dogs" Ransom told Reuters during a visit to the park.

"They started sweeping the park and kicking everyone out, waking them up, kicking them out, taking their stuff."

Vancouver has long-standing problems with drug abuse and homelessness, most apparent in the streets, parks and back alleys around the junction of Hastings and Main Streets in the city's Downtown Eastside.

Crack cocaine, methamphetamines and fentanyl are rife. Along Hastings, people stand bent over or lie on the pavement, unconscious from a mix of fentanyl and sedatives.

For some, sweeps and clearances are a daily fear that has increased as the city has been under the World Cup spotlight. 

"There's more confiscations of people's monies, even if they don't have drugs on them, more 'move along, move along', but not saying where to move along to," said Samona Marsh, who lives in the area and works with various community and local academic organisations, as well as being