14 arrested at pipeline protest, RCMP confirm

Police have confirmed that they arrested over a dozen people at a pipeline protest near Houston, BC earlier today.

According to a news release, just prior to 11 am, police officers from the Division Liaison Team (DLT) spoke with representatives of the Gitdumt’en camp about the removal of a roadblock that they had setup along the Morice West Forest Service Road. The roadblock was several kilometres away from the Morice River Bridge but within the injunction ordered by the BC Supreme Court three weeks ago.

At 3pm, police proceeded to enter the blockade to open access to the road. By 6:45, 14 people were arrested for “various offences,” including alleged violations of the injunction order.

RCMP said that during the arrests they observed fires being lit along the roadway by unknown people, and large trees felled across the roadway.

In the release, the police addressed what they called “erroneous reports” that they jammed communications in the area and that the Canadian Military were present. They said both of those are incorrect. 

From the release:

The area is extremely remote and even police had limited access to communication. Police officers, including members of Tactical and Emergency Response Teams, have been deployed as part of our measured and scalable approach to enforcing the court ordered injunction.

We will be updating as information becomes available.