Two more people have been arrested associated with a blockade of a Coastal GasLink worksite south of Houston.
RCMP say two people were taken into custody Wednesday (Oct. 27), one on outstanding theft and mischief charges and the other for possession of stolen items from CGL equipment.
The latter was released pending a future court date and the former was scheduled for a court appearance Thursday.
In a video released on the Sovereign Likhts’amisyu Facebook page, Chief Dsta’hyl (Adam Gagnon), identified in the video as the Likhts’amisyu enforcement officer, can be seen “decommissioning” a CGL excavator by removing the battery.
He then places “Likhts’amisyu Clan Govt.” stickers on the equipment explaining he is seizing it under Wet’suwet’en law.
He says the company will have a chance to have the equipment returned in a case before the Gitxsan Court.
READ MORE: Protests renewed along CGL pipeline near Houston
“It is going to be up to you guys to prove that you guys are not trespassing on Wet’suwet’en land,” he said.
Since late September, protesters have been blocking roads to the CGL construction right of way and recently added a blockade to the Shea forest service road, which provides access to the company’s construction camp, which houses 400 workers.
In a statement on the Coastal GasLink website, the company says its primary concern is for the safety of its employees and contractors and calls the blockades dangerous and unacceptable.
“Our work is lawful, authorized, fully permitted and has the unprecedented support of local and Indigenous communities and agreements in place with all 20 elected First Nation councils across the 670 km route,” the release states. “These agreements include Wet’suwet’en Nation communities who are benefiting from training, employment and contracting opportunities.”
In a separate video, Sley’do (Molly Wickham) could be seen calling for more people to help block the project site.
READ MORE: ‘We’re still in it’: Wet’suwet’en push forward on rights recognition
In late September, two other people were arrested for breaching a B.C. Supreme Court injunction granting CGL access to the worksite.
Protests last year against the pipeline included rail blockades across the country.
CGL workers are preparing to run the pipeline underneath the Morice River, something protesters are saying there will cause environmental and cultural harm.
The company says micro-tunneling, the technique they are planning to use, is the safest and most environmentally friendly way of doing it.
editor@interior-news.com
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