Activists in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside have set their sights on another new restaurant they say is a symbol of increased gentrification in the area.

The demonstrators are urging people not to set foot in Cuchillo restaurant, an upscale eatery that recently moved in to the low-income neighbourhood, because high-end businesses are leading to higher rents in the DTES and displacing low-income residents.

“This owner’s gouging people,” said protest organizer Wendy Pederson. “We need to secure the needs of people in this neighbourhood first before high-end moves in and pushes people out.”

Pederson said the goal of the protest is to secure 5,000 units of social housing for the DTES – and for that to happen, the city will need to overhaul its current housing policy.

“Unfortunately the city isn’t taking care of the problems in this neighbourhood, so when somebody like this chef comes in, and this owner of the building, what they do is just cause problems,” she said.

“They cause more misery, and more poverty, and more homelessness, and more displacement, and things get worse, so it has a social cost, and people are going to have to pay for it with their taxes.”

Mike Macquisten, a Cuchillo customer, said that the mix of people and businesses from different backgrounds gives the neighbourhood more character.

“I think it’s going to continue to evolve,” he said of the DTES. While Macquisten agreed that people have a right to protest, “It's just [unfortunate] at some point or another for business owners,” he said.

Vancouver police watched the protest Friday night from across the street and have been monitoring similar protests in the area for months.

Since February, many of the same protestors have been fixated on nearby Pidgin restaurant for the same reason. Vancouver police have arrested two people in connection with those demonstrations.

During the Pidgin protests, demonstrators called for more social housing in the Downtown Eastside and to make the neighbourhood a social justice zone.

Their tactics of targeting a small business for weeks attracted a lot of media attention, but also drew fire from other members of the community who said they weren’t represented by the activists.

The Cuchillo demonstrators said they will protest outside the restaurant every day.

Have your say: Are these types of protests helping or hurting residents of the DTES?