Residents of Regina “Stand in Solidarity with Elsipogtog” at RCMP Barracks

Last week, around 80 people held a peaceful protest at the RCMP Barracks to protest the RCMP Raid on fracking protesters that happened in Elsipogtog, NB. Jay Bird was the organizer of the event, which had speakers like Wendy Lynn Lerat, Sue Deranger and Rodger Ross speak out against the RCMP’s treatment on protesters. Through all of their speeches, they questioned who the RCMP was really protecting, citizens or corporations? Most agreed with the latter.

Mainstream media has been covering the protests in Elsipogtog, mostly showing images of RCMP cars burning down and protesters throwing punches at RCMP members, but showing very little images of police brutality using pepper spray on elders and youth.  But social media has once again been the main source of information, as dozens of videos have surfaced, showing snipers sneaking up on protestors, letting K9 dogs loose and shooting rubber bullets with some reports on the ground, saying one man was shot.

The Mi’kmaq members of Elsipogtog have been protesting since the summer, to stop SWN Resources from fracking on their land. But last week, RCMP were ordered to put a stop to the protests which is when things got heated. The images are similar to that of the Oka Crisis of 1990, as support for the Mi’kmaq people has grown from other anti-fracking activists and celebrities throughout North America. We’ll bring you more as the story develops. Currently, RezXSouth is attempting to interview some of the protesters who were injured by RCMP, as we’ll bring you that story soon.