[mobglob-discuss] TORONTO STAR: Police storm native protest

[Graeme Bacque]

http://tinyurl.com/ozpm9

Police storm native protest
Apr. 20, 2006. 08:06 AM The Toronto Star

CALEDONIA, Ont. - Ontario Provincial Police officers mounted a pre-dawn
raid Thursday to evict aboriginal protesters who had been occupying a
Caledonia construction site for almost two months.

Since Feb. 28, dozens of Six Nations protesters had occupied the Douglas
Creek Estates housing project southwest of Hamilton, which they say sits
on native land.

Police moved "incredibly quickly with overwhelming force," just before 5
a.m., protester Mike Desroches told local TV station CHCH.

"The police just completely swarmed the territory."

Police had guns drawn and were armed with tear gas and Tasers, said
Desroches, but there was no sign of a violent confrontation.

At least nine people were arrested, according to the CBC.

OPP Sgt. Dave Rektor told The Canadian Press that the operation was
ongoing and there would be no official comment until a news media
briefing, likely to be held Thursday afternoon.

Police vehicles were cruising the surrounding countryside looking for
anyone who may have slipped away from the protest site during the night,
according to CHCH.

At least 20 police officers were visible at the entrance to the
construction site, where a campfire that had remained lit throughout the
52-day occupation was dying out.

Tensions rose on Tuesday after talks to end the dispute apparently broke
down.

A judge granted an injunction in March to remove the occupiers, but
police did not enforce it now.

“By the time anybody saw that they were coming, the police were all over
the site and basically began arresting people,” said Desroches.

The protesters argued that the site was part of a large land grant back
in 1784, but the provincial and federal governments say the land was
surrendered in 1841 to help build a major highway.

The protest has irked local residents, 500 of whom turned out earlier
this month for a rally to demand that authorities end the occupation.

A spokeswoman for federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has
described the occupation as a provincial matter.

The Ontario government said earlier this month that it wanted a
negotiated end to the standoff.

The standoff was reminiscent of the aboriginal occupation of Ipperwash
Provincial Park, which resulted in the death of protester Dudley George
from a police sniper’s bullet.

The park was seized by First Nations protesters on Sept. 4, 1995, under
the belief it was native territory that had never been properly surrendered.

Provincial police marched on the park two days later, and George was
slain in the ensuing showdown.

George’s death prompted accusations of police and government racism and
an inquiry that is still ongoing.