Metro Vancouver port blockade prompts injunction, 57 arrested Monday
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2020 01:56:58 +0000
Anti-pipeline protesters say they will be out in force in Metro Vancouver on Tuesday, despite 57 of their group getting arrested on Monday.
Natalie Knight, spokesperson for the “solidarity actions happening in Vancouver with the Wet’suwet’en Nation,” told Postmedia News she expected about 200 protesters to show up for Tuesday’s action at an “undisclosed location.”
Knight was speaking on Monday afternoon from a rail line blockade on Venables Street, just east of Glen Drive, that began at 3 p.m. and ended two hours later.
The port blockades were in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who are fighting to stop construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project in northwest B.C.
The arrests came earlier in the day after an injunction was issued Sunday against protesters who had been periodically blocking road access to partsbof the Metro Vancouver port since Friday. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority asked for the injunction so port operations could resume in Vancouver and Delta.
A Vancouver police spokesperson, Sgt. Aaron Roed, confirmed 43 people who defied the injunction and police orders to clear the area at Hastings and Clark streets were arrested on Monday morning.
“The injunction was granted to the Port on Sunday afternoon by a B.C. Supreme Court justice and protesters were made aware of it by the port on Sunday evening,” read a police statement issued by Roed. “A number of protesters refused to abide by the court order … Protesters received several requests from police to clear the intersection and then warnings prior to being detained.”
The VPD said all 43 people were released with conditions to abide by the injunction. Videos and photos from the scene show officers calmly moving handcuffed protesters one-by-one into police vehicles.
Delta police said 14 people were arrested on the Deltaport Way causeway. A statement from Delta police said they had been in communication with demonstrators since Saturday evening, when the blockade in Delta was first established.
“Police provided the protesters with a number of opportunities to leave without being arrested,” said Delta police spokeswoman Cris Leykauf. “Those who did not wish to be arrested were asked to stand to the side, where they could also witness the arrests if they chose to do so. Everyone involved was treated respectfully and with dignity.”
Knight said the blockade of the rail line on Monday afternoon did not breach the injunction because it states protesters must not block access to the port lands “by way of the Vancouver Fraser Port authority road access points.”
“It does not fall under the injunction,” she said.
“It’s been a long day. We wanted to gather people (following the arrests) and express our solidarity and indicate we are not going to stand down and wont be bullied or intimidated by the court,” she said. “At the same time we want to give people the chance to take a breath and gather again tomorrow at an undisclosed location.”
Knight said the protest group included members of climate and justice groups, anti-poverty groups, anti-capitalist groups, low-income housing groups and unions.
“There’s a pretty good cross section. It’s a pretty diverse crowd,” she said.
Demonstrators also gathered on the B.C. legislature steps in Victoria and blocked the Johnson Street and Bay Street bridges in the capital during the Monday evening rush hour
Coastal GasLink has said it has signed agreements with all 20 elected First Nations bands along the pipeline route from northeastern B.C. to LNG Canada’s $40-billion export facility on the coast in Kitimat — including Wet’suwet’en bands. But the hereditary chiefs it is they who have jurisdiction over the wider traditional lands, not the elected council that runs the smaller reserves.
Attn: an injunction was served today to peaceful demonstrators standing in solidarity with #Wetsuweten land defenders & hereditary chiefs at the Vancouver and Delta ports.
All allies are asked to come down to the ports at 5 am. Plz share! #WetsuwetenStrong #AllEyesOnWetsuweten pic.twitter.com/cVYGZBNpiF
A woman is arrested after police acted on a B.C. Supreme Court order, in response to a request from the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, to restore access to the Vancouver port terminals.
Police clear the intersection at East Hastings Street and Clark Drive0.
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