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VIDEO: Pipeline protesters remove Hwy. 19 blockade at Courtenay exit over safety concerns

A group of protesters against the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C. dismantled a barricade on Highway 19 Tuesday morning, citing concerns for their safety.

A group of protesters against the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C. dismantled a barricade on Highway 19 Tuesday morning, citing concerns for their safety.

“Initially, our plan was to blockade the highway for as long as it took for the provincial and federal government to respond appropriately to the international outcry over this oppression. However, due to a series of escalating security/safety concerns, we were forced to … remove ourselves from the area,” said a statement released by Extinction Rebellion Nanaimo.

Video that surfaced online the same morning shows a truck driving aggressively, the wrong way up the Exit 117 ramp, narrowly missing some protesters, who, in turn, appear to push a plywood sign into the path of the oncoming vehicle.

Comox Valley RCMP said they are aware of the video, but did not specify whether it is related to an arrest that was made during the protest.

The demonstration was one of many sparked by ongoing tension in northern B.C. between Wet’suwet’en members and the Nation’s hereditary chiefs and the province over a liquefied natural gas pipeline set to run through traditional territory from Dawson Creek to Kitimat.

ALSO WATCH: B.C. legislature pipeline protest camp disrupts throne speech ceremonies



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