First group of pipeline protesters found guilty

VANCOUVER — The first trial of protesters accused of violating a court injunction at Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project ended Monday with guilty verdicts for the nine accused.

The protesters, arrested March 17 at the Burnaby worksite pleaded not guilty to criminal contempt of court at the outset of their trial last week in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.

During the trial, prosecutors showed video evidence of the protesters — some of whom had strapped themselves to an entry gate at the site — being taken into custody by RCMP.

Lawyers for the accused argued that the police had no grounds to make the arrests, but B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Affleck, the trial judge, did not agree with that argument.

The judge noted the injunction was read by a police officer in a loud voice and that the protesters, who were initially relatively quiet but later began to chant and sing, would have heard it. The protesters were given an opportunity to leave the site before the police took them into custody, he said.

“None of the evidence I have described in these reasons was significantly challenged at the trial,” the judge added. “I have no doubt that each of the accused was adjacent to or strapped to the entry gate on March 17 and was arrested and processed as I have described.”

The protesters will be back in court June 28 for sentencing.

Four protesters arrested March 19 began the second trial Monday afternoon. A total of 203 people have been arrested, with 88 pleading guilty rather than go to trial. Those who pleaded guilty have been ordered to pay fines or to perform community service.