RCMP arrest six protesters in northern B.C. gas pipeline blockade
Credit to Author: Tiffany Crawford| Date: Thu, 06 Feb 2020 17:22:20 +0000
Six protesters of a natural gas pipeline in northern B.C. were arrested in the early morning hours of Thursday, according to an Indigenous group.
Gidimt’en spokesperson Molly Wickham said, in a Facebook video post, that the RCMP moved in the dark on the Wet’suwet’en camps to arrest people sleeping in their tents.
The RCMP is enforcing a B.C. Supreme Court order requiring that Coastal GasLink workers be given access to the area near Houston, B.C.
The arrests come a day after the RCMP pledged to use the “least amount of force necessary” to enforce the injunction.
However, Jennifer Wickham, who is also a Gidimt’en spokesperson, said the RCMP smashed the window of a truck to arrest a man. She said she hadn’t heard of any injuries, but was disturbed by how many officers came to arrest people while they were sleeping in their camps.
She said 14 police vehicles arrived at about 3 a.m., followed by more later in the morning. She claims in total there were 36 police and emergency vehicles.
Wickham alleges RCMP dragged the demonstrators out of their tents, before RCMP officers dismantled the tents.
Wickham said she would be going to the police station to find out where they were taking those who were arrested. Last year, they were brought to Prince George.
In January 2019, officers broke through a blockade on Morice River Forest Service Road, southwest of Houston, on to enforce a B.C. Supreme Court injunction order, arresting 14 people.
A post on the Wet’suwet’en Access Point Facebook page said police broke through the checkpoint gate with “brutal force.”
More to come…
-With files from Nick Eagland and The Canadian Press