Kinder Morgan protest enters new phase

Tensions increased today when Burnaby RCMP continued to enforce a court injunction at the Kinder Morgan site

Kinder Morgan work crews arrived on Burnaby Mountain this morning accompanied by a police escort, a sign of just how tense the situation has become since yesterday’s arrest of 26 protesters, five of whom remain in custody, for violating a court-ordered injunction zone and preventing surveying work to be carried out. While the injunction took effect on Monday, the RCMP did not enforce it until Thursday morning.

Later, at a press conference at the demonstration site, located at the bottom of Centennial Way, protesters and their supporters spoke, among them Squamish Chief Ian Campbell. “We implore the province of B.C. to rescind their agreement with the NEB (National Energy Board),” Campbell said.

Meanwhile, a visibly-emotional Tamo Campos, grandson of David Suzuki and one of the 26 protesters arrested yesterday, told the assembled media that “we have to stand up to unjust laws.”

Protest organizer Lynn Quarmby, an SFU professor and the chair of the university’s department of molecular biology and biochemistry, was the last to speak, calling the NEB process “a sham” and stating that “the new NEB Act is as requested by the oil industry.”

After she finished, Quarmby linked arms with other protesters, announcing that “I’m walking up that hill and I’m going to be the best citizen I can be.” A defendant in the injunction ruling, Quarmby was later arrested, along with other protesters, when they allegedly crossed police tape to reach the Kinder Morgan drilling site.

Protesters camped out for almost two months to protest Kinder Morgan’s plan to route an expanded pipeline through Burnaby Mountain. According to Kinder Morgan, survey work resumed on Thursday, and the RCMP has confirmed that police will remain onsite until the survey is complete.