Protesters descend on Canadian Embassy against raid on Wetsuwet'en anti-pipeline checkpoint
Video from the protest 2 min 34 sec
Update Jan 9: Port of Vancouver, highways blockaded in solidarity with Wetsuwet'en.
On the 8th of January, both Native and non-Native activists and showed up at the Canadian Embassy to protest an armed RCMP raid on checkpoints set by Wetsuwet'en First Nations people against a TransCanada gas pipeline project. The DC protest was one of a series of protests all over Turtle Island in solidarity with the Wetsuwet'en.
The checkpoints have kept pipeline crews off of unceded Wetsuwet'en land over which the Canadian occupation government has no legal authority under international law. On Jan 7, a heavily militarized team of Royal Canadian Mounted Police assaulted a Wetsuwet'en checkpoint and arrested 14 land defenders. An assault on the main camp was reported to be "imminent," and the Unist’ot’en Camp is also expecting to be attacked at any time.
The checkpoints have allowed civilian traffic complying with the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent protocols to pass but blocked passage of TransCanada 's surveyers and others participating in the theft of Indigenous land and resources. TransCanada wants to begin construction of the Coastal Gas Link, the first of several proposed pipelines intended to cross unceded Wetsuwet'en land. All chiefs of all five clans have unanimously vetoed all of the pipeline proposals, and Canada's plans to build them under armed force have been called "an act of war."
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau has proven that his promises are worthless and he cannot be trusted. We are right back to fighting in Occupied Canada against oil and gas extraction and pipelines The Wetsuwet'en are now preparing for a "protracted struggle" to stop all of these pipelines and the trespassers seeking to build them whatever it takes. This could get rough, as oil and gas corporations seeking to trespass on First Nations land have found out before in Klanada, Occupied Turtle Island.
http://unistoten.camp/arrests-at-gidumten-checkpoint-rcmp-raid-anticipat...
RCMP in training prior to the Monday, Jan 7 assault on the Wetsuwet'en checkpoints.(Photo from Indigenous Environmental Network report)
RCMP armed with infantry rifles in the vicinity of a Wetsuwet'en checkpoint (photo by http://unistoten.camp/)
A land defender is arrested (photo by http://unistoten.camp/)