Vancouver — A group of squatters camped out at the Victory Square war memorial park took down their tents and moved out Saturday.
"I wanted to pull a tent down myself," Second World War veteran Frank Helden, who has been visiting the squat since it started earlier this month, told CKNW News.
The squatters had said they would leave the park by Saturday and march to another location in downtown Vancouver.
That location was Thornton park, a few blocks to the east in Vancouver's notoriously drug-ridden Downtown Eastside.
The squatters likely picked that park because it has a memorial to women killed by male violence, said park board chairwoman Heather Deal.
Ms. Deal said she hopes the squatters will leave on their own but the park board could seek an injunction if the squatters decide to stay.
The tent city in Victory Square sprung up hours after Vancouver won the 2010 Olympic Winter Games bid on July 2.
The squatters' goal was to protest B.C. welfare time limits and a lack of social housing.
Although the city's bylaws prohibit overnight camping in city parks, police have so far not taken any action.
Last Thursday, the city's parks board announced it was seeking an injunction to remove the squatters so a $700,000 renovation project at the site could go ahead.
The parks board had set a Tuesday deadline for them to leave after angry war veterans complained that the renovations to re-landscape the greenery, add lighting and erect a platform might not be finished in time for Remembrance Day if the squatters remained there.
Last Wednesday, the remaining Victory Square squatters woke up to find a two-metre metal fence surrounding most of the camp, set up to begin the park renovation.
