The number of arrests at old-growth logging protests in the Fairy Creek watershed climbed past 1,000 on Tuesday, Sept. 14.
With 12 more on Tuesday, the RCMP have now made 1,004 arrests since enforcement of the BC Supreme Court injunction in the area began in May 2021.
Last week, Fairy Creek surpassed the protests at Clayoquot Sound nearly three decades ago as the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. Police made 856 arrests during logging protests at Clayoquot Sound in 1993.
Police arrested 12 individuals for breaching the injunction on Tuesday, including some who were in a trench or perched atop a tripod. Police say the obstacles had been set up overnight by protesters who infiltrated the injunction area. Four of the arrestees were processed and released.
Of the 1,004 arrests at Fairy Creek, 110 individuals have been arrested more than once, for a total of 261 times. The most common infraction has been for breaching the injunction, with 775 arrests, followed by 196 for obstruction, 16 for mischief, six for breaching release conditions, six for assaulting a police officer, two for failing to comply with a court order, one for counselling to resist arrest, one for causing a disturbance, and one under the Immigration Act.