Occupy Toronto must vacate park

TORONTO, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Occupy Toronto protesters must leave St. James Park in the city's downtown area after five weeks of camping there, a Superior Court judge ruled Monday.

Superior Court Justice David Brown's ruling upheld eviction notices issued last week by city officers to protesters who turned St. James Park into an encampment Oct. 15, the Canada Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Protesters argued they had a constitutional right to camp in the park. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and members of the Toronto city council countered that the occupiers have had their say and that area residents and businesses want the protesters to go.

City officials also said the encampment damaged park grounds and they needed to prepare the park for winter.

Brown rejected the protesters' argument that the camp was vital to ensure their right to expression was guaranteed, saying the city's trespass order was "constitutionally valid."

"Although proclaiming a message of participatory democracy, the evidence, unfortunately, reveals that the protesters did not practice what they were preaching when they decided to occupy the park," Brown said in his ruling. "Specifically, they did not ask those who live and work around the park or those who use the park, or their civic representatives, what they would think if the park was turned into a tent city."