The last bastion of the anti-pipeline protests has come down.
City of Burnaby staff and about several RCMP officers moved in early Wednesday morning to remove an unauthorized protest camp near Kinder Morgan's Westridge Marine Terminal.
Pipeline opponent Sergei Van Hardeveld and three others were in the tent at the time.
"They came and said 'hands up'- no guns drawn or anything, but that was kind of unnecessary," Van Hardeveld told the NOW. "It was pretty jarring."
Van Hardeveld and his cohorts gathered some items and left, while city staff spent about 1.5 hours dismantling the camp. The protesters were given a number to call to retrieve their property. Van Hardeveld said he found the treatment rather heavy handed.
"It was certainly a very bureaucratic response when they could have had a human response," he said.
The camp was on city property, just off Bayview Drive, at the entrance to Kinder Morgan's terminal, where tankers fill up with crude. After November's standoff on Burnaby Mountain, a few remaining protesters set up a new at Westridge to monitor Kinder Morgan's activities.
Dave Ellenwood, head of the city's parks department, said the protesters were given notices to leave more than once, and city staff also spoke to them about moving on.
"We had talked to them several times. It was always civil, but the response was always, 'We're not leaving, we have an encampment here,'" Ellenwood said.
The police presence was typical, Ellenwood explained. Camping is not allowed in city parks, and the police will accompany city staff to remove encampments.
Van Hardeveld said the protesters wanted to stay and continue monitoring Kinder Morgan. He also questioned the City of Burnaby's opposition to the project.
"Personally, I feel the city is rolling over," he said. "They're doing their legal action, but they aren't doing anything else."
