A group of protesters disrupted traffic in downtown Victoria for several hours on Friday afternoon.
About 200 people were marching with a banner saying "Wedzinkwa is life." Other signs said “Honk for old growth” and “Who polices the police” and called attention to the climate emergency.
Their target had been RCMP Island District headquarters on Nanaimo Street, near the corner of Blanshard Street and Topaz Avenue.
Wedzin Kwa, or Morice River, is the headwaters of Wet’suwet’en land in northwestern B.C. Protesters have been blocking the Morice River Service Road in an effort to stop progress on the $6.7-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline project. Mounties said they arrested 14 people on Thursday while enforcing a court injunction that bars protests from blocking the forest service road used by workers at the pipeline construction site in northern British Columbia.
As of 4 p.m. Thursday, most of the Victoria group had moved to Centennial Square, police said.
By 5, they had moved to Douglas and Fort, and part of the group moved to Douglas and View. Just before six, Victoria police said traffic downtown was still being disrupted.
In a tweet at 7:35 p.m., VicPD said traffic downtown was clear.
Buses on several B.C. Transit routes were being detoured as a result of the protests.
