Almost one year after the first blockade of logging road construction was set up near the Fairy Creek watershed, the RCMP has now made five hundred arrests of anti-old-growth logging protesters near Port Renfrew.
The latest arrests took place Thursday in the Reid Mainline and Braden Mainline areas.
The RCMP says two people were taken into custody after being removed from a tripod structure.
In recent weeks, the protesters have been using elaborate systems to lock themselves in place that requires considerable effort by police to remove them.
Other protesters sit atop wooden tripods, while others have suspended themselves in trees and from a bridge.
The first blockade was established by the Rainforest Flying Squad on August 18th of last year to stop logging road construction into the Fairy Creek watershed, followed by several more camps in the area.
On April 1, Teal Cedar, which holds cutting rights in the area, was granted an injunction and enforcement order by the BC Supreme Court to remove the blockades.
On May 17, the RCMP established a large exclusion zone around the area and the following day began arresting protesters who refused to leave.
The Rainforest Flying Squad is calling on the provincial government to halt the logging of old-growth forests and implement all the recommendations of the old-growth review panel.
The province has now deferred logging in the Fairy Creek watershed, but old-growth logging opponents say the deferral does not protect ancient trees adjacent to the valley.
