Caledonia barricades continue to grow after police action at site

Road barricades that went up in Caledonia late yesterday became entrenched overnight, as Indigenous land defenders added an overturned school bus and other vehicles to a blockade of Argyle Street near Canadian Tire.

A section of Highway 6, as well as McKenzie Road in front of the occupied land, have been dug up with excavators, and demonstrators set fire to a hydro pole on Argyle last night, prompting the power to be cut for some residents.

The group is objecting to police action yesterday evening at the back entrance to 1492 Land Back Lane, the construction site that has been occupied by Six Nations members and their allies since July.

The OPP said officers used non-lethal force," which 1492 Land Back Lane spokesperson Skyler Williams described as rubber bullets and a Taser, when confronted with demonstrators throwing rocks at police cruisers on Argyle Street near Sixth Line.

The land defenders say officers' aggressive behaviour prompted the flare-up.

That confrontation came a few hours after a Superior Court judge ruled that injunctions barring road barricades and ordering land defenders off the disputed territory would be made permanent.

Police have closed Highway 6 between Fourth Line and Greens Road, Argyle Street between Braemar Avenue and Highway 6, and McKenzie Road between Fuller Drive and York Road.

A rail line running through the community is also blocked.

More to come.

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