On March 30th 2026 the historic Woodwards building’s Nestor’s grocery store was the target of an arson attack which engulfed the isles of the store and resulted in $400,000 in damage. Victor Leslie Atkinson was later tracked down to a Gastown residence and charged with the action, he has yet to appear in court. We do not need to know the politics of this individual in order to understand the context in which this action occurred.
This is a critical time for the community as the Woodwards building is the site of a newly proposed police training facility. Located on Hastings and Abbot St, Woodwards was once a staple of the DTES, and has been ground zero for resistance against capitalism and the state, from the Gastown riots of the 1971 to the Wood squat of 2002, where squatters reclaimed the building for the community, holding police at bay for three fierce months. The very same Woodwards building that was a core of the community is now occupied by the the state in the form of the VPD. Recently a “community policing center” was built to replace the TD Bank, reminding the community the the watchful eye of the state. Espousing liberal politics and draped in pride flags it hides what it truly is, a physical imposition and occupation of the police on the community. Now the London Drugs which has served the community for fifteen years as a post office and pharmacy has been shut down and is set to be replaced by a police training facility. The owners of Nestors welcome this occupation.
As anarchists we hold no love for the corporations that preceded these outposts of the VPD, and rejoice in reports that the London Drugs never made a profit in its fifteen years of operation due to theft. It is the combination of community’s rebellious will and brutal material conditions that has resulted in us taking what we need to survive.
We are though, able to see these closures and slow occupation by the VPD as what it is, the creation of a militarized outpost aiming to flood the streets with cops, arrest, brutalize, and terrorize the community. This city treats its underclass like a disease, pumping money into police, gutting social services, blanketing the streets in surveillance cameras, all while the capitalist class squeeze every last drop of wealth out of us with rising grocery and rent. They don’t want us to exist, they want us to die. We must fight back.
Whilst being constructed the community policing center endured frequent sabotage by local anarchists who smashed out the windows repeatedly causing substantial economic harm. If we have learned anything from recent events it is that those most marginalized are willing to go even further in this fight. We do not need NGO’s, careerist progressives, or politicians to save us with endless compromise and politics. We need resistance.
Since the Nestors was targeted posters have been wheatpasted throughout DTES raising awareness to the coming police occupation. One version of the posters reads “PRICE OF LIVING GOT YOU DOWN? DESTROY THE COP TRAINING FACILITY” We would be very happy to see individuals heed this call. We do not make these statements lightly, and haven’t detailed the extent of repression that those hippie rioters and wood squatters faced. We do not advocate wreckless abandon, but do understand that it is safer to live in a society that resists police occupation than one that remains complacent. We all must take action. If the DTES is to be taken over by gentrifying elite then we must go scorched earth.
Resources for direct action: https://warriorup.noblogs.org/
