Native “official” representatives (Ruby Montour on right)
UPDATE: The Media Co-Op has removed Trish Mills’ story from their website. A cached version is available here.
A group of people have occupied a pipeline pumping station today. Enbridge has put in an application to reverse the flow of “Line 9” from the current east-to-west, to carry oil from west-to-east. The protesters are concerned that the reversal will result in the line being used to carry bitumen from the Tar/Oil Sands. Proponents of the change say it will help Canada’s east coast reduce our reliance on imported oil.
Like most contemporary environmental protests, the activists have used indigenous representatives to speak with the media- it’s a common tactic. In this case the spokespeople come from the Six Nations reserve, but are not official representatives of the band council. Ruby Montour (on the right) is a well-known professional protester who was recently sued for $350,000 for her participation in protests in Brantford in 2007-08.
But, despite the presence of indigenous spokespeople, this protest is very similar to the Sarnia rail blockade this winter- and includes some of the same Occupy Toronto anarchists who were found behind the scene back in December…
Sakura Saunders- Violating Bill C-309 already?
It’s not a surprise to find Sakura Saunders is present- she’s been a major organizer of protests against the Line 9 reversal, and was one of Occupy Toronto’s most powerful defacto leaders. Saunders is standing in-front of an anti line 9 sign similar to the ones she was handing out at the end of the Zach Ruiter/Cheri DiNovo racist cop baiting march. She’s wearing a t-shirt for her husbands anarchist band (who sing songs about ‘smashing up shit’). Saunders is an American with a long history of working for Soros funded NGO’s and has a close relationship with the Mennonite Church and the Christian Peacemaker Teams (the people who acted as human shields for Saddam Hussein during the last Gulf War).
Sayed Hussan (on left) of No One Is Illegal
Next we can see Sayed Hussan, a leader of the notorious No One Is Illegal in Toronto. Hussan was a defendant after the violence of the G20, but charges were dropped against him after G20 ringleader Alex Hundert agreed to take the fall. Hussan works closely with Saunders and Hundert, and is one of the ‘usual suspects’ amongst Toronto’s professional protesters.
Trish Mills of Occupy Toronto illegally putting a lock on the front gate…
Trish Mills was a member of Occupy Toronto’s medic team, and was a regular on the scene at the St James Park encampment. Mills took the very risky choice to put a lock on the front gate of the Enbridge facility right in-front of a CBC reporter- it’s likely she will face criminal charges for this. On a recent article she contributed to the militant anarchist Toronto Co-Op she encouraged her fellow criminals activists to ignore police orders when a protest is declared an illegal assembly and to instead “be prepared to defend to keep the street”.
Edward Lutz (on left) setting up a tent…
The guy on the left of the above photo is Edward Lutz, an anarchist regular who is commonly seen at Toronto marches and protests. Not much is known about him, other than he has a very bushy beard and often walks around wearing a dress. Lutz was also one of the people arrested at OCAP’s occupation of city hall back in February.
Is this Alex Hundert?
So, as usual, we have the usual suspects running a protest and using ‘new faces’ in an attempt to fool the public into thinking a diverse group of people are protesting. So far, nobody in the media who’s covered this protest have made any mention of this. Even when interviewing the ‘infamous’ Ruby Montour, the neglected to discuss how she’s recently been sued for illegal activities. This is the problem with the mainstream media, they rarely dig into the truth behind the protests they cover.
They’ve also neglected to mention that a number of the protesters present have been wearing masks today. It was less than 24 hours ago that the government passed Bill C-309, banning the use of masks during a riot or an unlawful assembly.
It will be interesting to see how the police deal with this situation. They have every right to round-up and jail the protesters today. The facility is clearly marked with a ‘no trespassing’ sign, so there should be no need to get a court order to remove them. According to a recent decision by the Supreme Court, if the protesters are blocking the facility and haven’t made a challenge in court they are involved in an abuse of process.
We should all carefully watch the police’s response to this protest- if they ignore the fact there’s a no trespassing sign, and neglect to make arrests quickly, they will be setting a very dangerous precedent…
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So the Leninist “Zimmerwald Left” have come out to play. Nice job Greg.
The reverse line 9 movement is one of the weakest ever. They are not even protesting a new pipeline. It is just reversing the flow. That is the only change. No good reason not to do it. Though, given that Sakura was active in the Islamist takeover of Egypt she may be worried about Canada losing dependance on Middle Eastern oil.
The only person missing is Paul Watson ramming his boat into the pipeline.
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True. But, as an article I’ll be putting out soon will show- there’s a direct lineage connected to Watson…
Watson is busy running “Operation Relentless” down south.