Police moved in Wednesday afternoon to remove seven Greenpeace protesters who had been hanging from the Ironworkers bridge for two days, stopping an oil tanker from passing underneath the bridge.
An “aerial extraction team” from the RCMP’s emergency response team climbed up to the catwalk underneath the bridge deck around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon to remove the protesters who had been hanging from climbing ropes, as well as five protesters who remained on the catwalk.
Will George, a member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in North Vancouver, was one of the protesters lowered from his position hanging 12 metres below the bridge on to a waiting boat below.
George posted a live video around 3 p.m. from his hammock sling underneath the bridge, describing how the police team was beginning preparations to remove the protesters.
North Vancouver RCMP Cpl. Richard De Jong said police moved in to remove the protesters based on potential danger to themselves, public mischief and the fact they were “jeopardizing the safety of a vessel” under the Canada Shipping Act by preventing ships from leaving Burrard Inlet.
De Jong said the four-hour process of removing the protesters went smoothly. All 12 were taken to the North Vancouver RCMP detachment and released after signing a promise to appear in court Oct. 10. Conditions of release include a promise by protesters not to go within 100 metres of a Kinder Morgan facility and not to be on the Ironworkers bridge except for the purpose of crossing over it.
Alex Speers-Roesch, head of the anti-oil campaign for Greenpeace Canada, said the group had been in discussions with police over the 36 hours the protesters hung from the bridge and had been warned that a team would likely move in to extract them if the protesters didn’t come down on their own. “The climbers decided to stay in place,” he said.
Speers-Roesch said the protesters were “definitely prepared to be arrested and charged,” adding “peaceful civil disobedience” is part of what Greenpeace believes in.
“It’s no surprise this involves breaking the law,” he said. “We find the laws are not on the side of justice.”
Speers-Roesch said the protesters were tired but proud they had been able to halt an oil tanker for as long as they did.
Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for Trans Mountain confirmed that the tanker Serene Sea had finished loading and departed the Westridge Terminal in Burnaby after “waiting for suitable conditions.”
Earlier Wednesday morning, George spoke with the North Shore News, describing his chilly night in a hammock hanging over Burrard Inlet. George said his eight-year-old son and Tsleil-Waututh ancestors had inspired him to be part of the bridge protest.
George said his time hanging from the bridge wasn’t comfortable but was quite peaceful, especially at night. “I treat it like ceremony,” he said. ”Our people have been here for centuries.”
The Tsleil-Waututh did not officially endorse the protest. But the North Vancouver First Nation has been adamantly opposed to the pipeline expansion project.
George said his 18 years as a commercial window washer cleaning windows of highrise buildings in downtown Vancouver prepared him to hang from the bridge by a rope, high above Burrard Inlet.
George said he brought smoked salmon, along with power bars, peanuts and pepperoni to eat and had water while hanging from the bridge.
Official Greenpeace spokeswoman Jesse Firempong said protesters had a “hygienic system in place for storing waste” while hanging from the ropes. George put it in simpler terms. “For number 1 just lean over. For number 2 – that’s why I didn’t bring much food.”
Twelve protesters climbed the service catwalk underneath the bridge in the early hours of July 3 and seven of them lowered themselves by industrial ropes to form an “aerial blockade” preventing the oil tanker from the Westridge Terminal from being able to pass under the bridge.
The protesters said they staged the event to prevent the oil tanker from leaving and to draw attention to opposition to the pipeline project, which the Canadian government is in the process of buying from Kinder Morgan.
