Burnaby Mountain update: police storm camp, non-lethal rounds used against treesitter

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20th Novem­ber 2014

New Lockdown after Treesitter Shot with “Less Than Lethal” Round

[UPDATE: Recent arrest num­ber is around 18 as of 2:30pm]

Local activist and video jour­nal­ist Devin Gillan has report­ed that RCMP offi­cers admit shoot­ing the treesit­ter with a “less-than-lethal” shot­gun round. (The same thing occurred when police extract­ed pro­tes­tors from the Willits treesit in Cal­i­for­nia.)

The Burn­a­by Moun­tain protest per­sists, how­ev­er, as one pro­tes­tor has locked her­self to a cement block on site, and refus­es to move.

Police are report­ed­ly shov­ing peo­ple towards a new cor­doned off area.

Accord­ing to Burn­a­by Moun­tain Updates:

“RCMP arrests on Burn­a­by Moun­tain will not deter oppo­si­tion to Kinder Mor­gan

“So far, as of 2 pm, RCMP have arrest­ed fif­teen Burn­a­by Moun­tain land defend­ers stand­ing upto Kinder Morgan’s injunc­tion. Twelve of those fif­teen have already been released, with min­i­mal civ­il con­tempt of court charges. The three oth­ers are vis­i­ble to our legal and jail sup­port team. None have been tak­en to jail.

“Those arrest­ed include and pic­tured here are the brave land defend­ers Erin, Kaleb, Adam and Sut-lut who have all been main­tain­ing the camp for months, as well as our tree-sit­ter friend who has been camped out above bore­hole 2.

“Hun­dreds of sup­port­ers are on-site to wit­ness and to send a clear mes­sage that the arrests will not deter oppo­si­tion and this pipeline will not get built!”

More than 70% of the res­i­dents of Burn­a­by dis­ap­prove of Kinder Morgan’s Trans­Moun­tain pipeline pass­ing through Burn­a­by Moun­tain, and stress that the pipeline is pass­ing unlaw­ful­ly through pub­lic lands. First Nations have demon­strat­ed that it is unced­ed land, and Kinder Mor­gan is not abid­ing by the treaties in place.

The pipeline threat­ens to increase oil flow from the Alber­ta Tar Sands to the Pacif­ic coast via British Colum­bia three­fold.

 

Treesitter in Tense Standoff as RCMP Storms Burnaby Mountain Camp

protestors lock arms as the police move in

Sirens are blar­ing on Burn­a­by Moun­tain this morn­ing as the Cana­di­an RCMP storm the block­ade against the Trans­Moun­tain pipeline.

Accord­ing to the Burn­a­by Moun­tain Updates Face­book page:

“9 am update from Burn­a­by Moun­tain. Four arrests con­firmed includ­ing two care­tak­ers who have been hold­ing down for months Kaleb and Erin, six addi­tion­al peo­ple are hold­ing in the camp­site and refus­ing to leave. There is a pub­lic rally—which is com­plete­ly safe—on the oth­er side of the police line, 30–40 peo­ple are here already, every­one please come to the hill. Police have blocked road to traf­fic so you need to walk in and you will be informed to stay with­in ‘protest area’.”

Accord­ing to the most recent updates, the num­ber of arrest­ed has reached elevent, includ­ing Kaleb and Erin who have stayed at the camp for months, and Adam Gold from the Heilt­suk First Nation. Donate to the legal fund here.

Adam Gold of the Heiltsuk First Nation being arrested
Adam Gold of the Heiltsuk First Nation being arrested

Accord­ing to the lat­est reports, the treesit­ter has warned RCMP offi­cers against shoot­ing him with bean­bag muni­tions, and is not wear­ing a har­ness. He has threat­ened to jump if police attempt to remove him. Police with climb­ing gear are cur­rent­ly on site.

First Nations mem­bers have arrived with drums, and have joined the protest.

Burn­a­by Moun­tain is the site of Kinder Morgan’s pro­ject­ed TransMountain’s pipeline, which would triple the amount of oil mov­ing from the Tar Sands to the Pacif­ic Ocean.

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An injunc­tion against the protest camp was grant­ed to Kinder Mor­gan on Mon­day, but the RCMP did not move into the camp until this morn­ing.

Accord­ing to Staff Sergeant Major John Buis of the RCMP, “RCMP have strived [sic] to bal­ance the need to main­tain pub­lic safe­ty and civ­il order with a demo­c­ra­t­ic right to hold demon­stra­tions. In many cas­es, the Burn­a­by RCMP has facil­i­tat­ed that right, and in the case of the pro­test­ers on Burn­a­by Moun­tain, we have estab­lished a law­ful assem­bly area for those who wish to con­tin­ue to protest peace­ful­ly and law­ful­ly.”

Pro­tes­tors assert that the RCMP is act­ing vio­lent­ly in a colo­nial reac­tion to a peace­ful encamp­ment on pub­lic lands (unced­ed Indige­nous lands) that has the sup­port of over 70 per­cent of the local pop­u­la­tion.

There is a livestream broad­cast­ing the events as they unfold.

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Land defend­ers at Burn­a­by Moun­tain are call­ing on peo­ple to come and sup­port the camp at the site. There is a “safe zone” for pro­test­ers, and the road in is still acces­si­ble at the moment.