Yesterday, some 40 anti-fracking protesters, mostly from the Elsipogtog First Nation, were arrested in New Brunswick. The protesters had been blocking a highway in order to prevent seismic testing in preparation for shale gas extraction through fracking. Their supporters say the RCMP’s enforcement of an injunction against the blockade was heavy-handed, while the RCMP claim the protesters were armed with molotov cocktails and other weapons. Five RCMP vehicles were destroyed in the conflict.
Today, a series of protests in support of the Elsipogtog protesters have occurred across Canada, including in Halifax. Protesters began to gather along the street in front of the Irving station on Robie Street near Charles Street. They rallied for about 20 minutes, waving signs, chanting and singing, and were greeted by mostly supportive people passing by, who honked horns and gave thumbs-up. Police were present, but kept at a distance. At its height, the protesters numbered about 250.
The protesters then moved to in front of the church on Charles Street, where speakers used the steps as a stage. The crowd backed onto Robie Street to listen. Very briefly, for 20 seconds, the street was completely blocked, but a police officer asked the crowd to let a south-bound bus pass, and the crowd obliged. It took another minute or two before the crowd figured out on their own how to keep a north-bound open to traffic. Speakers, mostly native, spoke of solidarity with the Elsipogtog protesters. There was a poem, and native elder Billy Lewis told the crowd that “the world has to see us.”
The crowd then went on a short march, down the southbound lanes of Robie Street, through the intersection with Cunard Street, and then to the Willow Tree intersection. There, they held up all traffic for about five minutes. Then they moved onto the Common. Along the way, I heard one protester thanking the drivers for their patience. Most of the drivers either didn’t react at all or honked horns in support. One or two expressed anger. “I have to pick up my child at day care,” said one.
But given the gravity of the situation in Elsipogtog, and given the charged political debate over fracking, there has to be some toleration for reasonable disruptive protests. And as disruptions go, today’s was minor, certainly less than that caused by a fender bender on one of the bridges. The cops at the scene acted reasonably, and with restraint. Democracy wins.
This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2013.
Lots of fracking at Panuke, close to Sable Island, and our only hope is deepwater drilling south of Halifax in 2015/2016.
Something like this : http://www.drillingcontractor.org/tide-is-…
Thank you Tim for the accuracy of the second sentence. CBC Radio & TV and CTV have all being talking about ‘exploration’. Can The Coast rent you out to the so-called national media to ensure they learn how to accurately report events ?
and here is the latest from the RCMP : http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/10/18/sh…
I like oil.
from National Post today :
” In a brief on proposed welfare cuts filed with the Federal Court of Canada in March last year, lawyers for the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick estimated that 85% of its people were on welfare.
The ignoble number added heft to their argument: The band, and other Mi’kmaq First Nations in the province, successfully fought off Ottawa’s attempt to equalize income assistance on reserves with that in the rest of province.
For instance, where a family of four in the rest of New Brunswick receives $908 a month, a family of similar size on a reserve receives $1,262, or about $300 more.
Their impoverished reserve, home to about 2,390 people, is in what the federal government calls “default management,” meaning it’s been asked to seek some financial expertise or is in a co-management agreement: It can’t handle its own financial house, in other words. Canada directly funded Elsipogtog in 2011 to the tune of almost $30-million, though it appears to have spent almost another $10-million.
Fighting for the 85% welfare status quo, and against potential jobs: Such is the proud legacy of the Elsipogtog First Nation. “
A very articulate First Nations women explained on the news Thursday night that the crowd at the blockade only turned violent because the protestors were angry at the the way the R.C.M.P. treated the tribal elders and I totally understand that. I would be angry too. I would be so angry that I would drive 20 minutes to the nearest gas station. I would be so angry that I would spend more time looking for glass bottles to fill with petrol and rags to stuff in the the necks. I would be still be angry on the drive back and I would maintain that anger as I torched the police vehicles.
I mean, that’s how it happened, right. Because NOBODY brings pre-made Molotov cocktails to a “peaceful” demonstration. Not to mention Rambo knives and ex-Warsaw Pact SKS carbines.
That’d be downright nutty.
I liked how Vladimir Putin dealt with those Greenpeace protestors, nothing says “how’s your protest going now buddy?” as a Siberian psychopath cornholes you at -25c for the next 20 years.
The problem with the ant-fracking group is that they do not have a clue what they are talking about. The problem is not that is no risk but is the risk reasonable and manageable. They talk about the bad chemicals but when you research the chemicals they are the same as everywhere else. When they say they are poisonous and have been poisonous in studies on rats but if you read the rat studies the rats were fed thousands of times what a human would get with the result that almost everything fed to rats in this way is capable of killing the rats , even water ! When the natives say they are closer to nature, that might be true compared to city dwellers but is false when you compare natives with country people who are closer to nature then the natives.C2H5OH is very popular for natives and non natives