Montreal Quebec - More than 40 people took part in a temporary blockade of a Canadian Pacific rail line in Town of Mount Royal Friday afternoon as part of joint protests, also held in British Columbia, by people who support Indigenous nations in their opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline.
 
Vincent Blondeau, one of the organizers of the protest, and a member of a group called Extinction Rebellion, said two protesters, the only ones who actually made it onto the rails, were apprehended by Canadian Pacific police but they were eventually released without being charged or fined.
 
The rest of the protesters stayed back after being informed they also would be arrested if they stood on the rails, Blondeau said.
 
The protest in T.M.R. began at 15:00 and lasted about three hours.
 
Blondeau said police presence was strong as officers from the Montreal police and RCMP stood by.
 
As he spoke Wednesday evening, Blondeau said a similar protest in Burnaby, B.C., ended shortly after police there ordered protesters to disperse.
 
The expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which currently stretches from Alberta to Burnaby, B.C., is expected to continue until 2022.
 
The group Extinction Rebellion, with chapters in B.C. and Montreal, is protesting how construction is set to begin in British Columbia's lower mainland and other parts of the western province where indigenous groups oppose the project because it will cross through their lands.
 
Author unknown.