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Six Wet’suwet’en supporters arrested during blockade of Vancouver port: police

This latest blockade had gone on for nearly 24 hours in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs
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Wet’suwet’en supporters blockade the entrance to the Port of Vancouver on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020. (solidaritycst/Twitter)

Vancouver police said six people were arrested Tuesday for blocking the main entrance of the Port of Vancouver.

The blockade had violated a B.C. Supreme Court injunction granted earlier this month that prohibited blocking port facilities.

This latest blockade had gone on for nearly 24 hours in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who are against a 670-kilometre long natural gas pipeline being built through their traditional lands in norther B.C. The Coastal GasLink pipeline itself is part of a $40-billion LNG export facility being built in Kitimat.

In a news release, the organizers of the blockade said it was in response to the “violent arrests of peaceful Mohawk land defenders on their ancestral lands in Tyendinaga, Ontario, as well as the brutal arrests of Gitxsan chiefs, elders, and matriarchs in New Hazelton, B.C.”

In other parts of B.C., Indigenous youth and Wet’suwet’en locked themselves to the legislature in Victoria, while 14 people were arrested at a protest in New Hazelton overnight.

READ MORE: Indigenous youth occupy B.C. Legislature steps amidst court injunction

READ MORE: 14 arrested at blocked rail line in northern B.C., police say


@katslepian

katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

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