Police have lifted a court injunction at the main area where protesters have been gathering on Burnaby Mountain for the past two weeks, now that Kinder Morgan crews have completed pipeline survey work on Centennial Way.
The road, which is the only access to Horizons Restaurant, is now open to single lane traffic.
Staff Sgt. Major John Buis from the Burnaby RCMP told the NOW police's no-go zone on Centennial Way has been cut in half, and there will be fewer officers on the mountain.
"There will be a reduction, but what the reduction is I can't say at this time," Buis said. "We've put tape up for one side of the road for police vehicles and to continue our operation."
Anyone marching up the mountain to cross the yellow police tape on Centennial Way will be arrested for obstruction, which is a Criminal Code charge, explained Buis.
However, the court injunction still stands in a clearing in the woods known as bore hole 1, another site where Kinder Morgan is still working.
The vast majority of the 113 protesters arrested so far have been charged with civil contempt for breaking the court-imposed injunction prohibiting people from interfering with Kinder Morgan's survey work for a new pipeline route in the conservation area.
The latest arrests include a group of the original organizers of the Clayoquot Sound blockade, and on Thursday morning, after NOW deadlines, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs was planning to march up the mountain to be arrested.
The National Energy Board gave Kinder Morgan till Dec. 1 to complete the survey work. The company is on track to meet that deadline, but Kinder Morgan's legal counsel is still requesting to extend the injunction to Dec. 12.
"The injunction extension will allow us to complete the work already underway on Burnaby Mountain; work necessary to inform the detailed design and engineering for the proposed pipeline," the company wrote in an email to the NOW.
