— Tereza Verenca (@tverenca) March 16, 2018
Burnaby RCMP arrested a 20-year-old woman Friday morning after she chained herself to a work truck outside Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby Terminal.
At about 7:45 a.m., as the truck was stopped on Underhill Avenue, the driver of the vehicle said a protester jumped on its flat deck trailer, which was carrying a rock truck. She wrapped her arms around part of the truck and secured her hands inside a metal cuff, locking her to the machine.
The protester, who goes by the name of “Nimby,” told the NOW she grew up in the area and went to Burnaby Mountain Secondary and Stoney Creek Elementary.
“This is truly my home ... and I want to protect it. I’m one of the groups of people who aren’t as large, who are willing to actually put their bodies on the line because it’s necessary,” she said. “We’re going to continue to do things like this because they have no consent from the Coast Salish peoples (to build the pipeline); they never asked for consent.”
Police arrived on scene at around 10 a.m. and asked the protester to remove herself from the vehicle or face arrest for mischief. Nimby declined and police then proceeded to extricate her arms from the cuff. Her arms had been secured inside the metal device with Velcro strips, which police cut away with a multi-tool.
While police were busy with that incident, protesters stopped a second truck carrying an excavator outside the tank farm gates.
The demonstration took place outside of the B.C. Supreme Court injunction area, which forbids protest blockades within five metres of the Burnaby Terminal and the Westridge Marine Terminal.
This is the latest in a string of protests to stop Kinder Morgan’s $7.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. More are scheduled for Saturday.
Estimated time of events
7:45 a.m.: A female protester locks herself to a truck by securing her arms inside a metal device placed around a piece of equipment.
10 a.m.: Burnaby RCMP arrive at the scene and tell the protester she’ll face arrest for mischief if she doesn’t get down. One protester says, “You’re arresting the wrong people.”
Protesters talk to police about their concerns, saying they’re demonstrating to cause delays so Kinder Morgan Canada loses money. “We want to get the message out to their investors that this is not a good investment,” says one protester.
10:25 a.m.: A second truck pulling an excavator is stopped by protesters outside of the Burnaby Terminal.
10:30 a.m.: A police officer is heard telling the protester, “You gotta get out sooner or later.” The protester responds with “Do I? Or are you underestimating how long I’ll stay here because it wouldn’t be the first time I pissed and shit myself.”
10:45 to 11 a.m.: Police give the protester one more chance to come down peacefully or face arrest. Protester doesn’t respond and police move in to remove the metal contraption. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to cut through the Velcro straps that secured the protester’s hands inside the device. The protester is taken away in a police vehicle.
