Indigenous groups are fighting the construction of a natural gas pipeline cutting through First Nations territory. Canadian police arrested 14 people at the indigenous protest camp in British Columbia.
Canada’s national police force said 14 people were arrested on Monday, as officers removed barriers built along a logging road. A provincial court granted the company building the pipeline, TransCanada, access to First Nations territory.
Indigenous groups are resisting the construction of a more than 400 mile long natural gas pipeline that will cut through Wet’suwet’en territory. Indigenous groups set up a checkpoint along a logging road to block the company, TransCanada from the land. They have camped for weeks, braving temperatures that have dropped well below freezing.
Videos posted online show Canadian national police, some in military fatigues with military style weapons, arresting people trying to protect the land. According to witnesses police used helicopters, boats and more than a dozen vehicles to make the arrests.
A number of demonstrators retreated back along the logging roads, in the direction of another camp. Police have set up a perimeter around an “exclusionary zone” preventing access to the area telling those trying to access the roads they face arrest if they attempt to enter.
Organizers believe the police are headed for Unist’ot’en Camp next. The camp tweeted “Now going into prayer” after police made the arrests and removed the checkpoint.
Image adapted from a photo from Unist’ot’en Camp
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