Police move in on Tyendinaga Mohawk rail protesters after deadline to clear site passes (Canadian Press/National Post – February 24, 2020)

https://nationalpost.com/

By 8:30 a.m. EST Monday, reports indicated that police had begun to make moves to clear the site

TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY, Ont. — Ontario Provincial Police have moved to clear a rail blockade on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. Police and CN Rail had given protesters until midnight Sunday to clear the blockade or face an investigation and possible criminal charges.

The deadline came and went, and the blockade near Belleville, Ont., that has crippled both freight and passenger rail traffic in most of eastern Canada for nearly three weeks remained in place Monday morning. However, by 8:30 a.m. EST Monday, reports indicated that police had begun to make moves to clear the site.

CP24 reports that a “large column” of OPP police vehicles approached the protesters. CTV reports that “several dozen” officers began arresting people and wrestling others to the ground.

The barricades were a response to a move by the RCMP to clear protesters who had been blocking access to a Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline worksite on Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia.

Hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation oppose the work on their traditional territory, despite support from elected band councils along the pipeline route.

For the rest of this article: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/blockades-remain-in-place-as-wetsuweten-hereditary-chiefs-returning-to-b-c