VICTORIA -- Video captured by an independent journalist shows police and protesters clashing on a remote logging road on Southern Vancouver Island.
The more physical arrests on Thursday morning by RCMP officers are the first of their kind in what has mostly been a peaceful and calm protest.
RCMP returned to a Vancouver Island logging road Thursday to enforce a court-ordered injunction to remove old-growth logging protesters who are disrupting forestry operations in the Caycuse watershed area.
Mounties say they did not intend to take more enforcement actions Thursday until several people reportedly returned to a police-established restricted area and locked themselves onto structures.
As police slowly creep down the remote logging road arresting protesters, the protesters continue to find unique methods of blocking the roadway.
On Thursday, officers found a woman suspended in a makeshift wooden structure 30 metres off the ground.
"We will be taking a methodical approach to effect a safe and technical rescue," said RCMP media officer, Const. Alex Berube.
Police say that seven more people were arrested Thursday, bringing the total number of arrests to 21 since RCMP began enforcing the injunction on Tuesday.
Protesters have been camped in forested areas between Port Renfrew and Lake Cowichan since August 2020.
The activists say they are trying to stop old-growth logging in the region and set up blockades on several service roads leading to forestry operations.
