Dozens detained during oil pipeline protest on Parliament Hill

OTTAWA – The Liberal government‘s conflicting climate and pipeline policies were thrown into sharp relief Monday as more than 200 protesters marched on Parliament Hill demanding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reject any new oilsands infrastructure.

The protest resulted in the brief detention of 99 individuals, all of them issued citations by the RCMP for trespassing after climbing over police barricades near the foot of the Peace Tower.

READ MORE: Activists arrested after 5 Canada-US pipelines reportedly shut down

1:53 Edmontonian rally against North Dakota pipeline

The immediate focus of the demonstration was the proposed expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby, B.C., which the Liberals have said they’ll decide upon by mid-December.

But the larger theme was keeping fossil fuels in the ground, as many signs proclaimed, and urging Trudeau to keep his word on Canada’s international emissions-cutting promises.

“Climate Leaders Don’t Build Pipelines,” said a giant banner carried at the front of the protest group, which was dominated by university students from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

Protest organizers called it the largest act of student climate civil disobedience in Canadian history, but the boisterous rally was a polite affair.

READ MORE: ‘It’s going to affect the water’: Edmonton solidarity walk for North Dakota pipeline protesters 

After some initial pushing and shoving at the police barricades, the protesters began individually climbing over the gates, often with police assistance, where they were then charged. The first dozen or so were handcuffed before being led away, but most of the detained protesters were not.

WATCH: Trudeau says he won’t be a ‘cheerleader’ for Kinder Morgan pipeline project 

1:17 Trudeau says he won’t be a ‘cheerleader’ for Kinder Morgan pipeline project

Andrew Stein, a McGill University environmental sciences student, said forcing the police to arrest them was the point of the exercise.

“It gets attention and it gets the word out there that climate leaders do not build pipelines,” Stein said in an interview shortly before climbing the barricade himself.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It gets attention and it gets the word out there that climate leaders do not build pipelines," Stein said in an interview shortly before climbing the barricade himself.

Protest spokeswoman Amanda Harvey-Sanchez, a third-year University of Toronto student, said pipeline approvals are a deal-breaker for many younger voters who helped propel the Trudeau Liberals to a majority government in last October’s general election.

READ MORE: North Dakota pipeline construction partially stopped by US government

“If Trudeau wants us on his team in 2019, he cannot approve this (Trans Mountain) pipeline,” said Harvey-Sanchez.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If Trudeau wants us on his team in 2019, he cannot approve this (Trans Mountain) pipeline," said Harvey-Sanchez.

“We’re coming here to the capital to call on Trudeau to reject Kinder Morgan.”

Protest organizers said the 99 detained individuals, including Stein and Harvey-Sanchez, were issued citations that bar them from Parliament Hill for three months, but they were not fined.