SHOWDOWN AT HWY 134
Exclusive Video Report on Mi’kmaq Blockade Raided by RCMP
Elsipogtog, Mikmaqi – Exclusive footage of the RCMP raids against the HWY 134 Blockade in Mi’kmaq territory has just been released. With some of the only video from behind police lines, subMedia.tv witnessed the brutal raid by the Royal Colonial Mounted Police on the Mi’kmaq blockade of fracking equipment.
subMedia’s Franklin López was on the scene from the get-go, “The RCMP tried to kicked me out of the conflict zone and threatened me with arrest to try to obscure the truth about what was going down. Media and other witnesses could have changed the narrative the cops were trying to build.”
For over 19 days, a Sacred Fire was lit at the mouth of the SWN, Southwestern Energy Resources, compound where the company’s seismic testing, or “thumper” trucks were held. SWN is a Houston-based corporation part of the resource extraction industry, specifically involved in the practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The Sacred Fire was the main heart of the physical blockade. Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, and Acadian and other Maritime settlers came together in a Unity Camp to support the assertion of Indigenous sovereignty and to protect the lands, waters and future generations.
The blockade cost SWN over $60, 000 per day. As the company’s trucks were on lockdown they criticized the RCMP for not arresting protestors. On the morning of Oct 17th, the RCMP violently raided the encampment, which was a widely supported grassroots mobilization, in particular targeting the Mi’kmaq Warrior Society. Given the context of RCMP arresting Ilnu youth, and women – including women laying down tobacco and women who are 9 months pregnant – it is little surprise that the RCMP acted with nothing colonial violence on Thursday. The unwavering support and presence of the Mi’kmaq Warrior Society was crucial to maintaining the blockade. It is no accident that the Kanadian state and its law enforcers in collusion with corporate interests, targeted the Warriors in hopes of weakening resistance.
Corporate media has painted this raid with Indian Act Heroes, and Land Defenders as criminals. A violent paramilitary attack on behalf of the RCMP was met with grassroots, Indigenous resistance as Warriors stood their ground and fought back. The fierce response of the community in defense of the Warriors was also captured on camera, as supporters broke police lines later that morning. subMedia.tv brings out the real story about what really went down on Highway 134; a story that the corporate media doesn’t want seen. ###
