[ql06] Re: PROPERTY: Hamilton valley expressway
- From: "Ken Campbell" <2kc16@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ql06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 11:07:37 -0500
[More on this story -- Where's the Native Treaty mentioned in the first
article? Great protest strategy, there, writing "stop cutting trees" on
your chest and walking around naked. Brilliant. Ken.]
Police arrest Red Hill protesters
HAMILTON SPECTATOR
HAMILTON - November 6, 2003. 10:16 PM - Expressway opponents suffered a
devastating blow yesterday when police swarmed their makeshift camp in
the Red Hill valley and carted away 14 protesters for trespassing and
criminal contempt of court.
Four of them spent the night and will be appearing for a bail hearing
today, including a native woman who was a kind of den mother in the
camp. A 58-year-old protester - known as Cowboy Dave Kobel - spent the
night in hospital after he complained of chest pains while police
arrested him.
Police also enraged native protesters by not allowing them on the site
to protect a sacred fire that has been burning since Aug. 11.
About an hour after the occupants were removed, construction workers
moved into the area and started clearing the bushes around the camp to
make way for the $220 million expressway. They were expected to
dismantle the long house last night.
Close to 50 policeman, private security guards and members of a
heavily-armed policed tactical team - who normally handle gun calls and
dangerous emergencies - participated in the mid-morning blitz.
They had sealed off every road and trail to site off Greenhill Avenue
and had plain clothes officers hidden in the bushes when they stormed in
shortly after 10 p.m. They also warned reporters they'd be charged if
they entered the area.
Inspector Ken Leendertse, who oversaw the operation, said he feared the
presence reporters and photographers would encourage the protesters to
put on "a good show for the media" and increase the possibility for
violence.
Residents of the camp - who have been living in tents and a long house
for more than two months - had just finished an outdoor pancake
breakfast when somebody blew a loud whistle warning police had arrived.
"We didn't have a chance in hell," said 20-year-old Mohawk College
student Aubrey Sorensen. "As long as I live, I'll never forget those
policemen coming out of the woods."
"We walked up to the officer and offered them food (as they had to
everybody who visited the camp during breakfast). I walked into the Long
House and told everybody they were there," she recalled shortly after
the incident.
She said most of the camp residents - who included teenagers to people
in their 60's - escaped by scattering into the bushes. Others left the
camp on their own after being warned they would arrested for trespassing
and contempt of a court for obstructing the expressway construction.
Sorensen said about 15 people went into the Long House and tried to
chain themselves to the centre pole. Police stepped in and stopped most
of them. But three people managed to fasten themselves to the pole with
a contraption known as a "dragon" and had to be cut free by police.
About two hours after the initial sweep, a large group of protesters and
supporters congregated on the grass near a condo complex on Albright
Avenue. They taunted police and exchanged angry words with residents of
the complex, who wanted police to remove them.
The crunch came when a young woman in her 20's, who had been living in
the long house, pulled off her top and bared her breasts. She had the
words "stop the tree cutting" written with a black marker on her chest.
Property owners shouted their disgust and urged police to arrest her.
She was not arrested. Another woman in her 50's was arrested for
trespassing, however, because she refused to leave.
The most contentious issue, however, was the fate of the sacred fire
which has served as a kind of rallying point for the anti-expressway
movement. It was lit in a special native ceremony in August and natives
expected they would be allowed to stay on the site and put it out
themselves.
After complaining to Leendertse, Clive Garlow and Brenda Maracle-Hill -
both members of the Six Nations Reserve - were allowed to go back to the
camp and burn tobacco in the fire as a tribute to the ancestors. He was
still angry that no natives would be around when it burned itself out.
Dave Heatley, who helped build the long house in September, said he
assumed it would be "bulldozed" by the construction equipment that had
just moved into the area. Like most of his cohorts, he was sad and angry
to see it destroyed. It was built in defiance of the court injunction in
September and had been a home to about a dozen people who slept and live
there. It also served as a meeting hall for the protesters.
Aubrey Sorensen said it will take more than the destruction of a
building to extinguish the expressway protest.
"It doesn't house our hearts and our spirits. They're still here and
will always be with us," she said. "Our spirits are dampened. The fight
isn't over."
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