Five Indigenous youth were arrested inside the B.C. Legislature after talks between them and the Minister for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Scott Fraser, broke down.
According to the demonstrators, seven Indigenous youth were invited into the Legislature by Fraser to discuss the ongoing protests in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose the construction of the Coastal GasLink LNG pipeline in northern B.C.
The meeting came to an end when Fraser said he could not grant their demands of having RCMP removed entirely from Wet’suwet’en territory, among other requests.
A statement from Scott Fraser’s office confirms that the delegation had originally agreed to leave the legislature after the meeting.
However, unsatisfied with the response from the minister, five of the seven youth decided to stage a sit-in inside the office, prompting legislature security to call Victoria Police.
A livestream shared on Facebook by one of the demonstrators shows the events inside the legislature office, up until police arrived and ended the feed:
According to a statement from VicPD Thursday morning, all five protesters were arrested and charged with Mischief at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday night.
Photos and videos taken by demonstrators outside the legislature show police drawing the curtains while conducting their arrest. The demonstrators were detained inside the building for several hours before being brought out and transported to police headquarters.
“Protestors called for others to surround the Legislature building. The protestors actively obstructed officers. With the large crowd, it took several hours for our officers to be able safely transport the protestors to VicPD Headquarters,” reads the statement for VicPD.
Police also state that responding officers were surrounded by over 100 protesters while conducting the arrests.
“It should not be a crime for youth to sit peacefully in an office in order to stand up for our collective future. Hold ministers accountable for what happened here,” reads a statement from the demonstrator’s official Twitter account.
Officers say there were no injuries during the arrests.
The five protesters were taken to cells for processing and released on conditions not to attend the Legislature grounds, including Confederation Park. The mischief investigations remain underway.
