Dozens of protesters blocked the Canadian National (CN) railway in Saint-Lambert on Saturday, before being dispersed by police. The protesters wanted to show their support for the indigenous Wet’suwet’en Nation, which opposes the passage of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project through their territory.
The demonstrators had erected banners on a rope, and arranged small piles of wood on the railway track as early as Saturday morning. They were warming themselves by a crackling fire in a barrel.
At the start of the afternoon, police officers from the Service de police de la Ville de Longueuil (SPAL) intervened to disperse the demonstrators.
“We had contacts with individuals. Finally, after the intervention of the SPAL negotiators, the individuals left on their own, ”declared agent Jean Boucher, spokesperson for the SPAL.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE
Police officers from the Ville de Longueuil Police Department (SPAL) intervened to disperse the demonstrators.
At around 3 p.m., no one was on the tracks.
“We will block transportation infrastructure critical to the Canadian economy as long as the RCMP [Gendarmerie royale du Canada] will be on Wet’suwet’en territory and that construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline will continue, ”Marianne Côté, an activist from the Anticolonial Montreal group, reported earlier in a press release. Journal of Montreal.
The exo commuter train, which runs on this railway line, was not affected by the blockage, since no transport offer is available on weekends.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE
Protesters warmed to a crackling fire in a barrel.
The event comes just over a week after some 15 people were arrested by the RCMP near Houston, British Columbia, during a protest in support of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. Among them were two journalists, who were on hand to cover the event.
Recall that a rail crisis marked the country in the winter of 2020, when several indigenous communities and militant groups across the country blocked rail lines. They wanted to argue their disagreement with the construction of the Coastal GasLink Project, a 670-kilometer TC Energy pipeline that crosses the lands of the Wet’suwet’en people.