Protesters set up blockade outside BC Premier John Horgan's home
Protesters who appear to be affiliated with the group Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island set up a blockade outside BC Premier John Horgan’s home on Tuesday morning ahead of the BC Budget being unveiled at the Legislature today.
“We stand with the Wet’suwet’en – no more crimes against humanity,” the group said on social media.
The group also denied that they were trespassing during the protest.
“We are not trespassing,” they said. “The RCMP is trespassing… Coastal Gas Link is trespassing… John Horgan is trespassing… Canada is Trespassing.”
See also:
- Wet’suwet’en solidarity rail blockades continue in Vancouver
- BC government agrees to meeting with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs
- Wet’suwet’en demonstrations to continue alongside Women’s Memorial March
- Wet’suwet’en solidarity demonstrations continue in Kitsilano and at UBC
While Horgan has been silent about the incident thus far, BC Liberal Party leader Andrew Wilkinson had strong words for the protesters on Twitter, saying, “This is not how democracy works.”
I strongly condemn the actions of protestors at the home of @jjhorgan this morning. No one in B.C. should ever feel unsafe in their homes or at their workplace. This is not how democracy works and this is not how we treat each other here. #bcpoli
— Andrew Wilkinson (@Wilkinson4BC) February 18, 2020
The morning protest comes after BC Ferries was granted an injunction banning protesters from blocking access to all of its terminal facilities after receiving information Wet’suwet’en protesters were planning to stage a blockade at Swartz Bay ferry terminal over the busy Family Day long weekend.
Solidarity protests held in Metro Vancouver in recent days blocked major arterial roads, bridges, and railways, severely disrupting road traffic, public transit services, and freight traffic.
“We took this action as a last resort in the interest of public safety,” said Deborah Marshall, spokesperson for BC Ferries, in a statement to Daily Hive Urbanized. “BC Ferries respects the rights of individuals to peacefully express their views, as long as their actions do not jeopardize the safety of themselves, our customers, employees and the general public.”
Last week, protesters blocked the intersections of Cambie Street and West Broadway, and University Boulevard and Wesbrook Mall on the UBC campus. The protest outside Broadway-City Hall Station led to 99 B-Line delays reaching up to two hours.
Protesters on separate occasions also blocked Hastings Street and the Granville Street Bridge, forcing long detours of public transit buses on those corridors. Some protesters were arrested near the Port of Vancouver when they refused to follow a court injunction banning them from blockading the port.
A blockade of the Pitt River railway bridge resulted in the complete cancellation of TransLink’s West Coast Express commuter rail service on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
Saturday’s protests blocked the Canadian National (CN) railway at Renfrew Street, right outside the entrance into SkyTrain’s Renfrew Station, but there were no disruptions to the rail transit service.
The movement is against the construction of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline between Dawson Creek in northern BC to the LNG Canada facility on the coast.
Across the country, the protests have shutdown critical railway corridors operated by both CN and Canadian Pacific, forcing the companies to stop or scale back their freight operations.
The disruptions have also impacted VIA Rail, which made a decision to cease all of its operations across the country until further notice. It uses tracks largely owned by CN.
More to come…