Wet'suwet'en protest: Police make arrests, clear blockade at Port of Vancouver
Credit to Author: Postmedia News| Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2020 23:05:39 +0000
Vancouver police arrested six protesters who were manning a blockade that was cutting off access to the Port of Vancouver on Tuesday.
The intersection of Hastings and Clark was occupied for nearly 24 hours by anti-pipeline protesters, supporters of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. As a result, the nearby Clark Drive entrance to the port’s terminal was also closed.
#VanTraffic: Traffic is now open in both directions in the intersection of Clark Drive and East Hastings Street. pic.twitter.com/DcFgcQA0Gj
The VPD, who were monitoring the demonstration on Monday, told protesters at around 1 p.m. Tuesday that they were in violation of a Feb. 9 injunction obtained by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and anyone who didn’t comply with the B.C. Supreme Court order would be subject to arrest.
The VPD said they arrested six people for refusing to abide by the order. Their names were not released.
Anti pipeline protesters are arrested after blockading E Hastings and Clark Dr. , in Vancouver, BC., February 25, 2020.
By 1:45 p.m., the intersection was clear and the streets were once again open to traffic.
This City of Vancouver traffic camera shows a south-facing view on East Hastings.
Anti-pipeline protesters block East Hastings and Clark Drive during the morning rush hour in Vancouver, BC., February 25, 2020
The blockade went up around 2 p.m. Monday. Participants had set up inflatable mattresses and beds in the street overnight.
“We are demanding that the demands of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs are met,” reads a post on the blockade’s Facebook page.
“The Chiefs’ demands are clear: construction on the Coastal Gaslink pipeline must stop; the RCMP must withdraw from Wet’suwet’en lands, and government, the RCMP and CGL must respect Wet’suwet’en law and governance.”
On Sunday, protesters had also briefly blocked a set of rail tracks near Venables and Glen, and on Monday, another blockade halted the West Coast Express.
A woman is taken into custody by police officers enforcing an injunction against protesters who were blocking a road used to access to the Port of Vancouver, during a demonstration in support of Wet’suwet’en Nation hereditary chiefs attempting to halt construction of a natural gas pipeline on their traditional territory, in Vancouver, on Tuesday, February 25, 2020.
Meanwhile, 14 people were arrested Monday night at a blockade outside New Hazelton on territory that neighbours the Wet’suwet’en Nation.
Hereditary Chief Spookwx of the Gitxsan Nation said Tuesday that three other hereditary chiefs were also taken into custody as the RCMP broke up the demonstration on a CN Rail line in northern B.C.
A similar blockade was set up by the Gitxsan earlier this month and removed as a show of good faith on Feb. 13, but Spookwx says the protest resumed because the RCMP have not acted quickly enough to leave the Wet’suwet’en’s traditional territory where a natural gas pipeline is under construction.
Protesters, supporters of Wet’suwet’en Hereditary chiefs, march on Hastings Street on Monday.
The RCMP and CP police also arrested three people in Chase on Tuesday for protesting on CP Rail’s tracks. At least two dozen protesters obstructed the tracks, but the majority removed their belongings from the tracks voluntarily, RCMP said.
The Salmon Arm Observer reported that Secwepemc Hereditary Chief Saw-ses, his daughter and a member of the Syilx/Okanagan First Nation were arrested at the site of the protest.
Tuesday’s blockade builds off the momentum from weeks of public action and shows of solidarity for the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, who are fighting the Coastal GasLink pipeline project in northeast B.C.
Amber Statters is taken into custody, as Vancouver Police made several arrests to end a blockade at the intersection of Clark Drive and Hastings Street, held by supporters of the indigenous Wet’suwet’en Nation’s hereditary chiefs as part of protests against the Coastal GasLink pipeline, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline is set to extend from Dawson Creek to Kitimat, and has the support of 20 elected band councils along the route. Each of the councils has signed benefit agreements with the company ensuring proceeds that would help each band become less reliant on federal funding.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary house chiefs, however, say the pipeline cannot proceed without their consent, as they assert title over a broader 22,000 square kilometres of traditional territory that is crossed by the pipeline’s route, whereas the elected band councils control smaller reserve lands. Alternate routes were proposed by the clan chiefs but CGL maintained the alternatives were not feasible and would increase costs.
Court injunctions issued to Coastal GasLink order land defenders, supporters and protesters off the construction site so that work can continue, and these injunctions have been executed by RCMP officers in recent weeks, resulting in arrests.
CN Rail was also issued and injunction, after earlier rail blockades halted trains and shipments across the country.
–with files from Canadian Press
More to come.