The latest on protests across Canada in support of anti-pipeline demonstrators

Here is the latest news on protests across Canada over a natural gas pipeline project in British Columbia (All times Eastern):

8:53 a.m. ET

Police are beginning to take action to enforce an injunction aimed at clearing a rail blockade on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near Belleville, Ont.

Members of the Ontario Provincial Police began moving to clear protesters who have shut down the key crossing for nearly three weeks, halting freight and passenger rail traffic across most of eastern Canada for nearly three weeks.

Police had warned demonstrators they had until midnight Sunday to clear the tracks or face arrest and possible criminal charges.

The barricades were set up in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs opposed to construction of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline across their traditional territories in northwestern British Columbia.

———

1 a.m. ET

Demonstrators who briefly blocked a Canadian National rail crossing in east Vancouver on Sunday moved on after police informed them of an injunction.

A rally on the tracks began at around noon Sunday but ended within hours.

Participants said they were acting in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs fighting a natural gas pipeline across their land and RCMP actions to set up an exclusion zone around the pipeline work, preventing the chiefs from accessing their traditional territory.

A statement issued by the organizers said demonstrators were also protesting other injunctions they call “overbroad” that have halted solidarity actions in support of the Wet’suwet’en.

———

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2020.

The Canadian Press