TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th February, 2020) The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has begun its raid of the campsite blocking the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline in northern British Columbia, arresting multiple individuals at the checkpoint approaching the campsite, Unist'ot'en Camp reported via Twitter on Thursday.
"Now hearing 36 vehicles including and heavy machinery went up the road, including multiple bulldozers," Unist'ot'en Camp. "Everyone at 39KM was arrested except media. Media that were at 39km are being driven out in a police van."
In a video posted to Twitter, Molly Wickham, spokesperson of Gidimt'en Clan, whose checkpoint was raided said that the pre-dawn raid began at 3 a.m. local time, with the first arrests coming a few hours later - at approximately 5 a.m. local time.
Police intervention comes as the RCMP is enforcing a BC Supreme Court interlocutory injunction order against persons who interfere with the CGL project.
The Wet'suwet'en First Nation rejects the ruling and the construction of the gas pipeline on their ancestral land citing international law and a Supreme Court of Canada decision, which reaffirmed Indigenous land claims and recognized hereditary chiefs - a title passed down from generation to generation.
Another video from the scene posted on Facebook showed heavy machinery, including bulldozers, heading toward the campsite and members of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation being denied entry by the authorities.
During a press conference on Wednesday, BC RCMP Assistant Commissioner Eric Stubbs said that protesters will have a few options at their disposal to avoid undue conflict.
The Assistant Commissioner said that protesters who wish to be arrested peacefully will not be handcuffed, while those that wish to not move will be carried away with "very little force being used."
Stubbs added that "if the above scenarios do not occur, our members will respond to the behaviours that are presented before them."
The media outlet VICE said the RCMP has taken one of its reporters to a local police station. The outlet said the RCMP did not detain the reporter and released him in the parking lot of the police station.
Only a handful of reporters remain behind police lines after an "exclusion zone" was erected on the premises.
The protesters have refused to give in to the Canadian government's demands citing Canadian court decisions and Article 10 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which stipulates that Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories - an article that the BC government has vowed to implement.
