Police separate protesters in Caledonia

CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news
Last Updated Mon, 24 Apr 2006 22:54:01 EDT

[SISIS note: The following mainstream news article is provided for reference only, as an example of how mainstream media treats indigenous resistance to genocide. Mainstream media often presents biased and distorted information, lacking pertinent facts and/or context. Inclusion of this article on our site should not be considered an endorsement by SISIS.]

About 500 residents of Caledonia, Ont., let their frustrations boil over on Monday night when they confronted police and native protesters at a blockade in the town.

The residents held a rally earlier in the evening, calling on authorities to end the seven-week-old native demonstration at a housing development in Caledonia, which is about an hour west of Toronto.

There are plans to build 250 homes on the 40-hectare site, which the natives say is on their land.

At Monday's meeting, about 3,000 non-native residents voiced their mounting frustration over the blockade, then some in the crowd moved toward the native blockade.

Police stopped the non-native demonstrators before they could reach the blockade, but the crowd took out its anger by bashing a police vehicle. One resident was arrested.

Site occupied 2 months

The native demonstrators, mostly members of the nearby Six Nations reserve, first occupied the site on Feb. 28 to stop construction of the housing project by Henco Industries on land they say was stolen from the Six Nations more than 200 years ago.

The province says aboriginals gave up the land in 1841 to make way for a new highway, an agreement a Six Nations spokesperson said was only meant to be a lease.

Six Nations filed a land-claim suit over the area in 1999.

Last Thursday, police moved in to try to end the protest, but failed when hundreds of people from the reserve arrived to bolster the blockade.

Sixteen people were arrested and later released on bail. The blockade was not removed.

However, the police action spurred talks between native leaders and provincial and federal officials. The sides met for about five hours Saturday night following a 19-hour marathon Friday in a bid to end the standoff.