Bolder actions and words from protesters behind rail blockades
Mohawks in Quebec say they have no intention of obeying injunction
Protesters behind rail blockades in Quebec and Ontario ramped up their actions and rhetoric Wednesday as government officials accused them of compromising public safety.
Demonstrators in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, near Belleville, were seen on video standing on rail tracks as a CN Rail train approached Wednesday, then jumping out of the way at the last second.
Provincial police said a handful of protesters also lit fires near and on railway tracks at a secondary camp that remained in place after a raid on another, larger blockade earlier this week.
The latest disruptions were denounced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, who called the protesters’ actions unsafe.
“It is extremely concerning to see people endangering their own lives and the lives of others by trying to interfere with the trains,” Trudeau told reporters.
Meanwhile, Quebec Premier François Legault suggested provincial police had not moved in to dismantle a blockade on the Kahnawake Mohawk territory south of Montreal because those on the reserve are armed, potentially with assault rifles.
His comments came as protesters on the Mohawk territory south of Montreal used concrete barriers and rocks to reinforce a blockade that has been in place since Feb. 8.
The secretary of the Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake, Kenneth Deer, said in a statement that any police efforts to forcibly remove the site would be seen as an “act of provocation and aggression that will exacerbate an already volatile situation.”
The rail company obtained an injunction on Tuesday to end the blockade, one of several such protests in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose a natural gas pipeline cutting across their traditional territory.
But Deer said protesters have no intention of leaving and need to be prepared for a possible intervention by outside police. “Ultimately, coercive state-sponsored force is the wrong way to make peace,” Deer said.
Rail and road disruptions have continued in recent days after several high-profile blockades were dismantled by police in B.C. and Ontario earlier this week.