Spirited rally highlights community division, tension over Nanaimo’s Discontent City
NANAIMO — In the latest chapter of a story that has both united and divided the community, members of the far-right group Soldiers of Odin marched in Nanaimo as part of an action against a tent city that has occupied an empty lot downtown for several months.
With approximately 200 people camped at the site, dubbed Discontent City, it is estimated to be the largest tent city protest in the province.
Groups both opposed to and in support of the encampment faced off against each other in a tense exchange Sunday afternoon that blocked traffic along Port Dr. several times.
Of the approximately 50-to-60 people who showed up to voice their opposition to the camp, many had organized through a Facebook page called Action Against Discontent City. The event was described as a citizen patrol and needle clean up that would march past City Hall and towards the tent city site.