Posted on 06/12/2006 1:04:48 PM PDT by yankeedame
Native protesters occupied a construction site near the southern Ontario town of Caledonia over a land-claims dispute.
They halted construction on a new suburb with 10 partially built homes.
Protesters had been camped out at the site since February 28, erecting tents, a teepee and a wooden building. Early in the morning on April 20, police in cruisers and vans arrived at the site with tear gas cannons and Tasers, arresting 16 people.
More protesters arrived soon afterward and barricaded the road leading to the site.
Plumes of black smoke billowed in the air as protesters burned a pile of tires on the two-lane highway.
Protesters say the land was granted to Six Nations more than 200 years earlier and never officially transferred to non-natives.
A protester returns to the barricades from a coffee run. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
Native spokesperson Clyde Powless, brown jacket, gets into a shoving match with Caledonia residents following the removal of the Native barricade near Caledonia, Ont., on May 22, 2006.
Native protesters tear up a Canadian flag as tempers flare May 22.
Native protesters beckon to residents to come over and fight after the barricades were re-erected May 22.
A native protester and a local resident exchange blows during confrontations May 22.
A large gathering of concerned residents gathered at the Caledonia fairgrounds to hear about the current situation on April 25. It was mainly a peaceful event until a few vocal citizens made their anger known at the end of the event.
OPP handcuff a native woman after a rally on April 24.
OPP officers arrest a protester after a rally April 24. About 500 angry people rushed a police barricade surrounding the native protest, hurling insults and demanding an end to the standoff.
Caledonia residents voice their displeasure with the ongoing Native protest.
A native protester guards the main blockade during occupation of a sub-division construction site and part of Argyle Rd., the main road through Caledonia.
Native youth stand near the north-west corner of the disputed development land with sticks, and bats in their hands. On the street in the distance, other youth have gathered to watch. On the street are some white vans with OPP in them.
Native Canadians barricade Hwy. 6 South, south of Argyl Street as a fire burns burns on the highway in the distance April 20. This is as far as protesters were allowing media to advance. The OPP raided a construction site to the south earlier in the morning, and made some arrests, but protestors later reclaimed the area.
Natives are using this dump truck to block the road.
Native Canadians have posted a sign on a barricade near disputed land in Caledonia.
Riot plice and protestors clash as residents protest early Saturday June 10, 2006 in Caledonia, Ont.
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Latest:
CALEDONIA, Ont. — Police were seeking arrest warrants today for seven aboriginal protesters they say were involved in a string of violent clashes at the scene of a long-standing native blockade in southern Ontario.
The seven face a battery of serious charges, including attempted murder, assault and forcible confinement, after angry protesters surrounded a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle on Friday and dragged out its three occupants.
"They were forcibly removed after they were swarmed," Graham said.
The injured police officer was pulled out of the path of the stolen vehicle as it was driven deliberately at him, OPP Const. Doug Graham said today.
Graham said the officer was treated and released. The stolen vehicle was recovered but no arrests were made.
Officers from the U.S. Border Patrol were in the area to observe how provincial police were handling the standoff, he added.
"Often, police officials work together and share information, and that group was here observing how we were using our police resources during this incident," Graham said.
Other charges police expect to lay against the protesters include theft of a motor vehicle, robbery, intimidation and assault causing bodily harm, he added.
The incident was just one of several altercations with protesters on Friday that are related to the charges.
Several hundred angry residents of Caledonia confronted police in full riot gear to protest police inaction after two CH-TV news cameramen were injured in a scuffle with angry protesters. One of the victims, who needed stitches to close a head wound, said police officers were nearby, but took no action during the attack....
When do the Canadian courts take up the issue?
This is crazy. THe police are doing everything they can to protect the Indians but they won't do a thing to protect the residents and passersby in the area. The police invovled need to be fired and the military needs to come in and clear out the criminals.
This is what happens when you allow yourself to be disarmed.
- What, exactly, does the tribe plan on doing with the land in question? Yes, I know. They don't have to do anything with it. Still and all, considering the big brouhaha over this I could only suppose they had their own alternative for use of this land ( build a museum, open a casino, etc.); or is it more a case of just wanting it for the sake of having it?
-- Why did the project get to the point of 10 houses in various stages of completion before the protests began? Why not when the original permits were issued? If not before ground was broken then why not swiftly afterward, say with the arrival of steam shovels and dump trucks?
-- If the land is declared Indian Territory what about those structures? Do the Indians now own them -- to keep or tear down as they choose? What about the builder(s)? If there is compensation then from who -- the state? the tribe?
I don't know the answer to all three, however, as for the first, I agree, it doesn't matter what they plan to do if they do have legal ownership of the land.
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