Anti-pipeline protesters blockading CN Rail crossing
Posted February 15, 2020 7:24 am.
Last Updated February 15, 2020 6:20 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A group called Urban Indigenous Sovereignists and its supporters have blockaded a CN Rail crossing.
Dozens of protesters have marched to the rail crossing on Renfrew near Grandview Highway.
https://twitter.com/bethlehemmariam/status/1228773113254400000
It’s not clear how long they intend to stay there.
Amtrak has turned back some travellers heading from Bellingham. A couple hundred people here to show her support for the Wet’suwet’en people. People here say they will not leave until they are physically removed or until Some agreement is reached. @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/4MReD9atvS
— Tarnjit Kaur Parmar (@Tarnjitkparmar) February 15, 2020
The gathering to back Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs is part of ongoing protests that have included blockades of roads and bridges in several cities as well as similar action that forced the closure of passenger and freight-train operations in Eastern Canada.
Protests began escalating outside of northern B.C. last week after RCMP arrested some opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline near Houston for violating a court injunction.
The company has signed agreements with all 20 elected band councils along the pipeline route, but Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs say band councils only have authority over reserve lands.
“We also choose this site in solidarity with and recognition of displaced and migrant communities. We want to recognize the shared history of violence experienced by Indigenous people, & Punjabi & Chinese communities” – Activist Atiya Jaffar@CityNewsVAN @NEWS1130 @BT_Vancouver pic.twitter.com/1v7XxKAEFw
— Ashley Burr (@AshleyBurr_) February 15, 2020
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