The RCMP arrested nine people Tuesday for blocking a roadway outside a contaminated soil landfill near Shawnigan Lake.
The nine, who were later released without charge, were among 200 people protesting near the Stebbings Road property owned by Cobble Hill Holdings Ltd., RCMP said.
Cpl. Janelle Shoihet, a media relations officer at E Division headquarters in Surrey, said the nine were arrested for blocking vehicles on the road despite a court injunction against impeding traffic.
“They were given the opportunity to move and then they maintained their position on the roadway and so they were arrested because they were breaching the injunction,” she said.
There were no injuries and “the arrests were without incident,” Shoihet said.
Former provincial Liberal candidate Steve Housser, a vocal opponent of the landfill, said the protest began at 6:30 a.m. and lasted until about 11 a.m.
It was designed, he said, to demonstrate residents’ ongoing opposition to the landfill, which is located uphill from Shawnigan Lake and has a permit to receive and store up to 100,000 tonnes of contaminated soil a year.
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