Three charged over protest outside the premier’s home

Three people have been charged with mischief in connection with a February protest outside the home of B.C. Premier John Horgan.

Three people were arrested Feb. 18 when members of Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island, a group opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline expansion project, brought their protest to the driveway of Horgan’s private residence in Langford.

West Shore RCMP said the trio were arrested after refusing to leave an “exclusion zone” set up by police.

The action was part of a series of Canada-wide protests and blockades earlier this year in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose the construction of the 670-kilometre underground pipeline to ship fracked natural gas to the LNG Canada plant being built in Kitimat. Most of the protests targeted rail lines, ports, government buildings, major traffic corridors and other public facilities.

Members of Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island said they had planned to attempt a “citizen’s arrest” of the premier to show support for Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.

“It was certainly well and truly beyond the line,” Horgan said of the protest outside his house. “And if people think it helps their cause to terrorize my spouse, then they’re dead wrong.”

Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson also denounced the protesters’ actions.

“No one in B.C. should ever feel unsafe in their homes or at their workplace,” he said in a statement.