HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY, N.L. – The RCMP says it arrested eight people today during a protest that blocked the Trans-Labrador Highway leading to the site of the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project.
Police say the protesters began blocking the road about 10 kilometres from the development at about 6 a.m.
The NunatuKavut Community Council, which represents the Inuit-Metis of southern Labrador, says its members were peacefully protesting on the highway.
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The group has protested on the road before to express its opposition to the project on environmental grounds.
The $7.7-billion plan to create another dam on the Churchill River includes a new power station that would harness energy from the falls surrounded by the traditional hunting and trapping grounds of the Inuit and Metis.
The protest caused traffic to back up about one kilometre down the road.
The Mounties say it was peaceful, but protesters wouldn’t co-operate with police, which led to the arrests.
The RCMP say the eight people arrested will be charged with obstructing a peace officer.
Nalcor Energy says the demonstration did stop workers from getting to its Muskrat Falls construction site, but operations at the project later returned to normal.
Energy from Muskrat Falls would be sent to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia using vast transmission lines and subsea cables.
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