33 Fairy Creek activists arrested as tents and vehicles block service roads, police say
Since enforcement began, 556 people have been arrested on Vancouver Island
RCMP officers on southern Vancouver Island arrested dozens of activists in the Fairy Creek watershed near Port Renfrew on Monday.
Police said in a statement that 33 people were arrested and later released. Officers say 32 people were arrested for breaching an injunction order against blockades and one person was arrested for obstruction.
The police enforcement took place at two protest encampments in the Granite Mainline Forest Service Road area. At one encampment, vehicles were lined up to block a road, while at the second encampment tents blocked the area.
The Fairy Creek watershed protesters known as the Rainforest Flying Squad have been actively protesting against old-growth logging in the area since August 2020.
Lake Cowichan RCMP say the injunction was read aloud to the activists informing them that they could either leave or face arrest.
The Surrey-based lumber company Teal-Jones Group was granted an injunction against the blockades on April 1, 2021, and police enforcement started May 17.
"The use of vehicles to block roadways is not only a breach of the court-ordered injunction, but creates serious difficulties for the local fire department to access those roadways in the event of a forest fire," says Chief Supt. John Brewer of the force's community-industry response group.
"I'm also, once again, relaying my tremendous concern about the deep trenches that have been dug up in the middle of the roads to purposefully obstruct their use by loggers and police who are trying to enforce the injunction."
In a Monday evening response to CBC from the Rainforest Flying Squad, a spokesperson said the police used aggressive tactics.
"The RCMP ... arrived this morning at 8 a.m. to Fairy Creek headquarters. He told us there would be 24 hours to vacate, then arrests would start," said the statement.
"Shortly after this conversation, they began enforcement. Three special operatives dressed in green blew past intake on ATVs to make their way to other camps."
Since enforcement of the injunction began, police have arrested 556 individuals.
In June, the B.C. government approved the request of three Vancouver Island First Nations and deferred logging of about 2,000 hectares of old-growth forest in the Fairy Creek and central Walbran areas for two years, but the protests are continuing.