Vancouver police arrest 3 after occupation of B.C. attorney general’s office

Vancouver police say three people were arrested Tuesday evening after a group of protesters occupied Attorney General David Eby’s Vancouver office.

According to police, the protesters were members of UBCC350, a group of University of British Columbia students and staff focused on climate change, and staged an occupation in support of Wet’suwet’en Nation opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C.

Police say demonstrators occupied the office from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., two hours after closing, when police made the arrests.

“After staff asked them multiple times to leave, police arrived and arrested the three people for mischief,” Const. Tania Visintin said in an email.

“They were taken to jail and released with a court date.”

2:11 Wet’suwet’en protesters storm B.C. minister’s office

The protesters say B.C.’s NDP government is not living up to its commitments under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and want the province to suspend permits for the natural gas pipeline’s construction.

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The group also wants the RCMP withdrawn from Wet’suwet’en territory and says the province, federal government, police and private industry must adhere to Indigenous law on unceded territory.

The pipeline has provincial and federal approval and the support of all 20 elected Indigenous councils along its route.

However, opponents say elected band councils are an artifact of Canada’s colonial system and do not have authority over unceded territory.

The occupation came nearly a week after an Indigenous youth-led occupation of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources in Victoria on the same issue.

Victoria police arrested 12 adults at that protest.

The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) says it has filed a formal complaint with the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner (OPCC) over the Victoria officers’ handling of the protest and is holding a media event on Wednesday.