Anti-pipeline protesters march downtown
More than 100 people demonstrated in solidarity with North Dakota Sioux
Traffic came to a standstill in parts of downtown Toronto on Tuesday evening as about 150 people protested the Dakota Access pipeline being built in the United States.
The protest began at 3:30 p.m. at the stock exchange on King St. before weaving its way through downtown. Demonstrators made a brief stop beside a Toronto International Film Festival venue and continued peacefully to Yonge-Dundas Square.
Although the protest stopped near the TIFF area, Carrie Lester, a protester from Mohawk Six Nations Grand River, said that was not the purpose of the march. Shortly after the brief pause, the group began walking north towards Queen St., with some protesters pushing antipipeline signs against the window of a limo driving towards the film festival.
People waved signs, chanting “Keep it in the soil, you can’t drink oil” as they marched in solidarity with the people of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has been conducting a blockade of pipeline construction for weeks.
The group stopped at intervals, holding up traffic while joining hands to form a giant circle surrounding indigenous drummers and singers.
As she walked down Yonge St., Lester said it’s crucial for people all over the world to speak up against oil pipelines that she said are destroying the environment.
“It’s up to me, it’s up to all of us, to protect our land and water,” Lester said. “We can’t let these extractive industries continue what they’re doing. They’ve held a noose around our neck for far too long.”
Lester said this was the third such demonstration in Toronto in recent weeks.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota is suing federal regulators for approving the oil pipeline, arguing it will harm water supplies and disturb sacred burial and cultural sites.
Dorian Douma, who learned about the march on Facebook, hopes the Toronto protest raises awareness about the battle Standing Rock Sioux tribe is undertaking.
“It’s important to show our solidarity with them and it’s important for Torontonians to learn about what is happening,” he said.
Protests continued in North Dakota on Tuesday, with 22 people arrested for interfering with pipeline construction.
A sheriff’s office spokeswoman told The Associated Press that construction workers were “swarmed” by protesters and that two people had “attached” themselves to equipment. Amy Goodman, an award-winning broadcast journalist for Democracy Now!, spoke in Toronto on Sept. 10, two days after Morton County, N.D., issued an arrest warrant charging her with criminal trespass after she filmed the protest.
Goodman spoke at an event called “All Governments Lie Panel: Independent Journalists from the Film.” The film, All Governments Lie, is a documentary premiering at TIFF.