Twelve people were arrested Friday morning by the RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] at the site of a sacred fire as part of an on-going protest in New Brunswick over seismic testing in the area.
RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Chantal Farrah said the arrests were made because people were attempting to block trucks and workers.
Farrah said seven men and five women were taken into custody on Route 126 outside Moncton near Elsipogtog First Nation.
The sacred fire was lit by members of Elsipogtog on June 11 beside a highway where seismic testing vehicles are searching for shale gas deposits.
Opponents of the exploration fear that once the company, SWN Resources Canada, finds shale gas, it won’t be long before it employs a controversial drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, to get at it.
Photos on social media show some of the arrests, including one that appears to be a man holding a sacred pipe, with his hands in plastic cuffs.