Eight activists including two minors were arrested Saturday at anti-logging blockades near Port Renfrew.
Lake Cowichan RCMP said the eight protesters were arrested at an encampment for breaching a court injunction to allow loggers to have access to the area.
In a statement, the RCMP noted parents had been asked to bring their children to the camps in order to support the protests.
“Today’s enforcement included the arrest of two minors who were actively engaged in breaching the injunction by being in a tripod and locking themselves in a sleeping dragon. We are asking parents to help prevent their minors from participating in these dangerous and illegal activities,” they said in a statement.
Protesters have been using “tripods” and “sleeping dragons” as ways to hinder police trying to remove them.
The RCMP have now arrested 222 people who breached court injunctions to allow loggers to gain access to the forest.
Protesters have been camped out in that part of the Island since last summer to block logging of old growth forests in what they call the last unprotected old-growth valley on the Island.
Blockades have been set up on logging roads near Port Renfrew and Lake Cowichan to prevent loggers from getting to logging sites.
The province has agreed to a request by the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations to defer logging in about 2,000 hectares of old-growth forest for two years, but activists say the deferral falls short and they will continue efforts to protect old-growth in the area.
