VANCOUVER — Civil disobedience continued Saturday on Burnaby Mountain, as 16 protesters were arrested after crossing the police line while activists continued to rally against a proposed oil pipeline.
Burnaby RCMP Staff Sgt. Major John Buis said to date there have been 53 people arrested for interfering with Kinder Morgan’s survey work on the mountain.
The arrests were peaceful, with supporters shouting words of encouragement to those who crossed the line.
The protesters, including some who had been arrested earlier, have vowed to continue defying a court order that prohibits people from blocking Kinder Morgan’s geotechnical survey work for its proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. The company obtained the injunction Nov. 14, but RCMP didn’t begin enforcing it until Thursday.
A few people were still camping outside the injunction zone Saturday. The demonstrators, muddy from days of heavy rain, dried their clothes on a makeshift clothesline above a campfire as the sun came out.
The sound of drilling by Kinder Morgan crews at two sites muffled the crackling of the sacred fire, which police on Friday moved rather than extinguished so aboriginal elders could keep the blaze burning. The fire is considered sacred to aboriginal people because it symbolizes the fight to save the land.
Mounties have allowed aboriginal people tending the fire to remain in the injunction zone without being arrested as long as they don’t try to block workers. They also brought in three aboriginal RCMP members to provide support to those tending the fire.
About 11:30 a.m., scores of protesters marched up the road and stopped at the police tape. They chanted “no pipelines on stolen native land” and banged on drums and blew horns.
After a man announced to the crowd that he was going to cross the line, about eight others followed. They were arrested and loaded into a police paddy wagon that was inside the injunction zone, and then taken to the RCMP detention centre in Burnaby.
Protest organizers said more people are expected to cross the police line this morning.
Valeen Jules, 18, of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation on Vancouver Island, tended to the fire overnight Friday by herself for five hours. She said Saturday she was cold and exhausted but encouraged by the support she received on social media.
Jules, who comes from a small native community on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, said she was compelled to come and show support because she wants the land to stay as a conservation area.
“It’s beautiful here. I don’t want to see this land destroyed. I’m here in solidarity with everybody.”
At least 11 people were arrested on Burnaby Mountain Friday and 26 more on Thursday.
