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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/24/canada-police-indigenous-anti-pipeline-activists-rail-blockade">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/24/canada-police-indigenous-anti-pipeline-activists-rail-blockade</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Canada: police clear rail blockade by
Indigenous anti-pipeline activists</h1>
<p><font size="+1"><b>Several members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk
nation arrested in growing political crisis for Justin
Trudeau </b></font></p>
<div class="credits reader-credits">Leyland Cecco - February 24,
2020<br>
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<p>Police in <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/canada"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag">Canada</a>
have removed Indigenous activists from a railway
line in Ontario, where a two-week protest
against a contentious natural gas pipeline has
blocked train traffic and fueled a growing
political crisis for prime minister Justin
Trudeau.</p>
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<p>Ten members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk nation
were arrested on Monday when officers moved in
to lift the blockade which had been erected in
support of the <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/14/wetsuweten-coastal-gaslink-pipeline-allies"
data-link-name="in body link">Wet’suwet’en
First Nation</a> in British Columbia who are
fighting a 416-mile pipeline through their
traditional territory.</p>
<p>Ontario provincial police had warned the
activists that they had until midnight Sunday to
leave the area, or face arrest and charges. </p>
<p>Wet’suwet’en activists opposing the C$6.6bn
(US$4.98bn) Coastal GasLink pipeline were <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/10/canada-protest-indigenous-wetsuweten-pipeline"
data-link-name="in body link">forced to leave
a remote camp</a> which had been blocking
construction on 10 February. But <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/14/wetsuweten-coastal-gaslink-pipeline-allies"
data-link-name="in body link">secondary
protests sprang up across the country</a> as
demonstrators blocked railways, government
buildings and ports.</p>
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<p>Canadian National, which owns the rail line,
won an injunction to clear the blockade near the
city of Belleville, Ontario, in early February.
But police, wary of violent standoffs in the
1990s with Indigenous groups, had so far been
unwilling to forcefully remove the
demonstrators.</p>
<p>Shortly after sunrise on Monday morning,
however, dozens of officers descended on the
blockade. Police barred media from the
operation, but the confrontation was broadcast
on a Facebook live broadcast.</p>
<p>Tyendinaga Mohawk activists heckled a phalanx
of police officers, telling them they were
standing on Indigenous land and had no
authority.</p>
<p>ADD Officers warned that people standing near
the rail line were in violation of the
injunction and faced imminent arrest. Moments
later, dozens of officers tackled a number of
protestors, forcing them to the ground and
cuffing their hands with zip-ties.</p>
<p>“Stay back,” police shouted to the remaining
demonstrators. The two sides remained in a tense
standoff until members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk
nation received orders from community leaders to
back away.</p>
<p>The blockade of rail lines through Tyendinaga
Mohawk territory has crippled much of Canada’s
freight and commuter rail traffic, and the
string of protests have been blamed for 1,400
layoffs at Canada’s main rail companies, propane
shortages in eastern <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/canada"
data-link-name="in body link">Canada</a> and
economic hardship for farmers.</p>
<p>The protests have piled pressure on Trudeau,
who came to power promising reconciliation with
Canada’s First Nations, but has supported the
country’s fossil fuels industry.</p>
<p>Trudeau at first called for “<a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/18/justin-trudeau-canadian-rail-blockade-dialogue-indigenous-pipeline-protest"
data-link-name="in body link">dialogue and
mutual respect</a>” but by Friday, his
patience had worn thin, and he bluntly told the
protestors: “the barricades need to come down
now.”</p>
<p>Wet’suwet’en hereditary Chief Woos has said he
expects blockades and protests will continue
throughout the country until the RCMP and
pipeline workers leave Wet’suwet’en territory.
Only once these conditions are met, the chiefs
will be willing to meet with federal and
provincial leaders.</p>
<p>Over the weekend, two new rail blockades were
established in Saskatoon and Vancouver.</p>
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