Protesters supporting Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs were back blocking vehicle access to the Port of Vancouver Wednesday, one day after six people were arrested for violating a court injunction at the site.
A Port of Vancouver spokesperson says demonstrators were blocking the port road to Clark Drive on Wednesday afternoon and police were on the scene.
Photos from the scene showed five protesters standing across the entrance to the facility’s Clark Drive viaduct entryway.
Vancouver police monitored the situation, but made no arrests and the protesters eventually left of their own accord.
Dozens of demonstrators descended on the intersection of Clark Drive and East Hastings Street around 1 p.m. Monday in violation of a court order to keep port access clear.
The group stayed the night and lit what they called a sacred fire on one corner of the intersection.
About 70 Vancouver police officers surrounded the intersection shortly after noon on Tuesday and read the injunction aloud and distributed copies to protesters.
Demonstrators had expressed support for Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs in their battle over the Coastal GasLink LNG pipeline and the Tyendinaga Mohawk people who were arrested Monday at a rail blockade in Ontario.
“We’re blocking one of the entrances to the Port of Vancouver,” organizer Natalie Knight said earlier in the week.
“It’s significant because it’s an economic disruption and we recognize that the government tends to only understand the language of money, so disrupting capital and the flow of goods is a language that they will understand.”
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Elsewhere, protesters in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief shut down the Patricia Bay Highway in Saanichton on Wednesday.
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