A new pipeline protest is gathering at the corner of Main Street and East Hastings Avenue in Vancouver Monday afternoon, just hours after dozens of people were arrested this morning.
Photos on social media show dozens of WetB次元官网网址檚uwetB次元官网网址檈n supporters blocking off the intersection. Those gathered are protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which would carry natural gas 670 kilometres across B.C. to an export facility in Kitimat.
Protesters can be heard shouting: B次元官网网址淪top the invasion, we stand with WetB次元官网网址檚uwetB次元官网网址檈n.B次元官网网址�
In a social media post, Vancouver police said the protest was leading to traffic delays in the Downtown East Side.
WetB次元官网网址檚uwetB次元官网网址檈n hereditary chiefs have long opposed the Coast GasLink pipeline, although the company has signed benefit agreements with all 20 elected chiefs along the route.
Earlier Monday morning, police arrested 47 people people who violated a court injunction that ordered protesters to stop blocking four Metro Vancouver ports.
Jen Wickham, a spokeswoman for one of the five clans that make up the WetB次元官网网址檚uwetB次元官网网址檈n Nation, said its members led by hereditary chiefs are defending their territory from construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
B次元官网网址淲e are the rightful title owners of our territory and we will continue to assert our sovereignty,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not a question of protesting. ItB次元官网网址檚 a question of their homes. TheyB次元官网网址檙e defending their homes.B次元官网网址�
The RCMP began enforcing a court injunction last week against people camped near a pipeline work site in Houston.
The conflict has prompted demonstrations spanning from the steps of the British Columbia legislature to a Via Rail line running between Montreal and Toronto. Wickham said she believes there is a growing understanding of First Nations rights among non-Indigenous Canadians.
B次元官网网址淚 think that people are starting to wake up to the fact that we have the right to our territory,B次元官网网址� she said.
B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e upset and theyB次元官网网址檙e taking to the streets. TheyB次元官网网址檙e occupying offices, theyB次元官网网址檙e stopping traffic and theyB次元官网网址檙e stopping trains. TheyB次元官网网址檙e saying, loud and clear, B次元官网网址楾his is not OK.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�
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People in Vancouver are taking the streets and blocking the intersection of Main and Hastings in solidarity with . No pipelines on stolen native land.
B次元官网网址� Nayeli Jimenez (@nayelijs)
Hundreds in the intersection of Main and Hastings, the latest in dozens (a hundred?) intersections and thoroughfares shut down in solidarity with in the last few days.
B次元官网网址� Torrance Coste (@TorranceCoste)
More to come.
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