9 protesters arrested at Caledonia subdivision

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/19/caledonia-arrests....

Nine protesters have been arrested near Caledonia, Ont., at a demonstration at a subdivision near the site of a long simmering aboriginal land claim dispute.

Witnesses say more than 100 police officers in riot gear went into Stirling Street subdivision Wednesday to make the arrests.

Six Nations protesters have occupied the subdivision since last week, saying the land is theirs.

Last Thursday, contractor Sam Gualtieri was found unconscious in a partially built house on the site after clashing with aboriginal youths during a land claims demonstration. He is still recovering from head injuries.

The subdivision is located several kilometres from another housing development, Douglas Creek Estates, that has been the site of a Six Nations occupation since late February 2006.

As a result of last week's violent confrontation, Ontario pulled out of the week's negotiations with the Six Nations and the federal government.

The nine people arrested Wednesday face criminal charges, but police did not immediately release further details.

Before the arrests, police say they gave protesters the option of leaving the property on their own or being charged and arrested.

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Here's a brief update that came from talking with somebody from Six Nations who was watching as things happened today. As many of you know, people from Six Nations have been trying to stop a new development on Stirling St. (about a kilometer away from the DCE reclamation site) in Caledonia. Last Thursday when some people from Six Nations went to stop continued development on the site, a fight broke out between one of the developers and some Six Nations youth. The developer [ended] up in the hospital and some of the youth were injured as well.

Since that time, a group of people from Six Nations (who are not following the leadership of the Confederacy) have been occupying the Stirling site. The Six Nations Confederacy was negotiating with the developer before this issue blew up in the news, and has been trying to get the protesters to leave the site. They have also distanced themselves from the confrontation which took place.

Today, police came to the site and arrested nine people who refused to leave the development for "mischief". About a hundred or so people from Six Nations observed the arrests from a distance. The police blocked off Stirling St. at Argyle Road and kept Caledonians and the media away from the site. This is obviously something to keep following, but it is unclear to me if things will escalate, or if the people who were arrested have supporters that will continue their actions.

The mainstream media is now starting to cover the story, but as you can see from this link http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_14912.aspx they confuse things [a] little bit. They show a picture of the area around the Douglas Creek Estates (and not Stirling St.) with their story and suggest that the raid happened there. They also mentioned that 18 people were arrested, and not 9 as I was told.

Anyways, that's all from me for now... Tom.