VANCOUVER - Demonstrators, as well as mascots of a rat, cockroach and flea, took part in the 'Poverty Olympics' on Sunday to protest at the cost of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"Six billion dollars for three weeks of competition, it's great for the city but brings nothing to the population as a whole," Robert Bonner, a North American Cree, and a member of one of the community groups involved in the protest, told AFP.

Five days ahead of the opening of the Winter Games, around 12 anti-Olympic groups staged a mock opening ceremony, introduced their mascots and handed out fake tickets.

The protest was also staged to highlight the plight of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood widely believed to be Canada's most deprived district, plagued by drug abuse and prostitution.

"The Games have created high rents, leading to the displacement of people from Downtown Eastside who can no longer afford to live there. At the same time we have the lowest minimum salaries in Canada," said Dave Diewert, a member of Streams of Justice, another group taking part in the protest.

Anti-Olympics groups claim that the costs of staging the Games, estimated at six billion Canadian dollars, could have financed 12,720 social housing units.

Some of the groups also plan to take part in an anti-Olympic rally on Friday, the day of the opening ceremony.