There is some serious shite going down at a fracking protest in Rexton, New Brunswick. [View all]
Last edited Thu Oct 17, 2013, 04:04 PM - Edit history (1)
Natives reportedly torch police cruisers at anti-fracking protest in N.B. 43
HALIFAX - A Native anti-fracking protest turned violent Thursday after RCMP moved in to break up a standoff, with protesters hit with rubber bullets and pepper spray and then retaliating by torching cop cars.
Mounties were trying to enforce an Oct. 3 court injunction against the standoff near Rexton, where SWN Resources Canada is testing for shale gas.
Elsipogtog Mi'kmaq First Nation members have been blocking workers access to their trucks.The protesters had been there since Sept. 30."It is a dangerous situation," Const. Jullie Rogers-Kent told QMI Agency.
A video posted online shows protesters cussing at cops and daring them to release their police dogs while others yelled that there were elders and children present. Other videos shows a line of police stretched across Hwy. 11, moving slowly to contain the protest, and protesters washing out their eyes from what appeared to be pepper spray.
Const. Rogers-Kent would not confirm, but tweets and photos from the scene suggest several arrests and at least four police cruisers up in flames.
A moratorium on fracking was recently lifted by the provincial government.
The Native are concerned the fracking — extracting shale gas through fracturing deep underground rock — could damage the environment and contaminate their drinking water.
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/10/17/natives-reportedly-torch-police-cruisers-at-anti-fracking-protest-in-nb
The RCMP came well-armed. Neither side is backing down.
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