The Mi'kmaq territories in so called Rexton, New Brunswick.
October 17th 2013.
You allright?
- Oh no I'm not allright, you assholes!
At approximately 7:30AM over 200 cops of the Royal Colonial Mountain Police, or RCMP,
descended on a Mi'kmaq protest camp that have been blockading
fracking exploration equipment owned by Texas based South Western Energy, or SWN.
The Mi'kmaq are the original inhabitants of this land,
and have been engaged in a struggle against SWN and their intent to frack their territories for natural gas since earlier this summer.
The cops came in guns drawn, with safeties off, and several of them were outfitted with camouflage and carried semi-automatic rifles.
They had surrounded the encampment where members of the Mi'kmaq Warriors Society were staying.
They came in through the fire exit, the fire entrance near the highway, with probably about 750-100 cops on that end.
There were shots fired at one point. I believe one of the people in camo was firing into the air.
I then saw molotov cocktails being lobbed at heavily armed cops by people hiding in the woods.
[Woman Screams]
YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING CRAZY!
I was then kicked out of the conflict zone by a senior officer and threatened with arrest.
[Senior Pig:] If you do happen to come back, sure I'm just saying, not saying that you are, but if you do, you will be placed under arrest.
I refused to go behind the police line and kept a position where I could witness the events and avoid arrest for as long as possible.
[The RCMPigs announce they will arrest everyone]
[Jason Okay:] So guys do work for SWN.
So you do work for SWN!
A tense standoff continued for the next two hours.
I'm gonna tell my kids, from the grave,
that I stood up for their water,
I stood up for you guys kids water too.
All of your guys kids.
I could hear supporters gathering from behind the police line in the town of Rexton.
And we're not leaving.
Bro, this is Mi'kmaq [land],
and we have a note here, that we can be on this private land
so now who's the wrong one brother?
Mi'kmaq supporters were able to break through the RCMP line and were rapidly headed in the direction of the blockade, while singing songs.
At this point I could see the police were panicking.
The cops in camouflage moved in on the warrior encampment and another group of police formed a line to meet the supporters,
effectively pushing me out of the conflict zone.
Scuffles between the police and supporters of the warriors followed,
and a fierce standoff between Mi'kmaq youth and the RCMP continued throughout the day.
The cops used pepper spray and beanbag rounds on the crowd, which included many underage youth.
Aww it hurts. It hurts.
Anger at the police was at a boiling point and in fear the cops abandoned their cars and moved to the safety of the police line.
At around 1:30PM supporters were asked to put down their cameras, while people set the RCMP vehicles aflame, to the cheers of many.
Firetrucks were told to turn around and let the cop cars burn.
The cops continued to amass behind the police line.
Cops in full riot-gear, armored personal carriers, and dozens of snipers, filled the blockade site.
But the fearlessness of the Mi'kmaq people was unquestionable and they would not leave until the RCMP invaders were gone.
Around this time reports started coming in that all SWN equipment had been removed.
Finally, around dusk, after arresting over 40 people, the cops retreated and left the zone.
On saturday hundreds of people from all over Turtle island descended on the blockade site.
The corporate media were told by locals that they were not welcome and they were ordered to leave the area.
I stood up!
I stood up, and told them to get the fuck out of here.
As reports of solidarity actions from around the globe came in, people blocked Highway 11 for several hours,
signalling the world that resistance against South Western Energy will continue until all frackers are gone.