Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested five extremists in northwestern British Columbia who are accused of threatening and intimidating workers on a gas pipeline project.
The arrests came after a complaint was filed by the security for Coastal Gas Link, who claimed that a worker on the pipeline had been “swarmed” by a group of masked individuals and that the group had fired flares and they were able to access a vehicle after the worker fled.
Allegedly, several of those arrested were First Nations and indigenous women, according to the Gidimt’en Checkpoint, who oppose the construction of the pipeline, with one of those arrested said to be the daughter of a local chief, the National Post reports.
The group also claimed that RCMP executed a search warrant over a theft below $5,000, while mounties say that one member of the group was arrested for trying to stop officials from carrying out the warrant and others for not following along with police commands.
The arrests come just over a year after RCMP in Houston, British Columbia released footage showing extremists attacking a Coastal Gas Link construction site that caused millions of dollars worth of damage to construction vehicles and other equipment.
“Video footage obtained by investigators show several people, some armed with axes; storm the property, attack a company vehicle while an employee was inside the truck,” the RCMP said at the time.
“The unknown individuals, who were similarly dressed, swung axes at the vehicle; spray painted the window and ignited what is suspected to be a flare gun. Thankfully, the CGL employees were not physically harmed,” they said.
At least 20 people took part in the attack, which also saw security guards attacked and saw extremists throw smoke bombs and other objects at the RCMP, injuring one official.
The extremist anti-pipeline movement has also engaged in rail blockades in the name of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose the Coastal Gas Link project, despite the fact that the elected band council of the Wet’suwet’en approve of it.
Antifa far-left extremists were also involved in the rail blockades in February of 2020 as some alleged that protestors had tried to sabotage rail lines.
Canadian former transport minister Marc Garneau admitted that rail lines had been tampered with saying, “There have also been instances of tampering on the railways… One that concerns me is disabling the signalling that occurs at a road crossing… We accept peaceful protests and demonstrations in this country that are peaceful and lawful, but it is concerning if people aren’t respecting the fact that they injure themselves and other people.”
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.