Seniors overwhelm RCMP barrier past Fairy Creek

About 100 elderly hikers swarmed the RCMP exclusion zone, no arrests were made

A gang of seniors marched on logging roads in Fairy Creek on May 25 and said they completely overwhelmed the few RCMP officers who were there holding an exclusion zone.

Saul Arbess, 82, said when the officers saw more than 100 seniors marching up the road, they just rolled up their police tape that marks the exclusion zone at Road 2000 and left.

“We made quite an impression,” Arbess said.

Road 2000 is between the Fairy Creek blockade headquarters and a newer camp called Waterfall, which Arbess calls the last two outposts before any vehicles can enter the Fairy Creek watershed, where the whole thing started last August. When a group of people, Arbess included, started a blockade on the logging roads to stop Teal-Jones from logging in the Fairy Creek watershed.

That protest has since grown to include at least five blockades, the two major ones being Fairy Creek and Caycuse over near Lake Cowichan. Teal-Jones asked the court for an injunction that would remove the protesters, which was granted April 1. On May 17, the RCMP began to enforce it.

Read the full article here: https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/news/seniors-overwhelm-rcmp-barrier-past-fairy-creek/

Seniors went to Fairy Creek to relieve young people who have been protesting logging in the area. (Submitted/Marnie Recker)
Seniors went to Fairy Creek to relieve young people who have been protesting logging in the area. (Submitted/Marnie Recker)