Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Native Youth Movement Warrior Targeted & Arrested at Anti-Olympic Protest in Vancouver

Three Native Warriors were targeted and arrested yesterday during a protest against the 2010 Winter Olympic Games planned to take place in Vancouver/Whistler, KKKanada.

NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT

INTERNATIONAL STATEMENT

NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT WARRIOR TARGETED & ARRESTED AT
ANTI-OLYMPIC PROTEST IN VANCOUVER, BC, KKKANADA

“THE INDIAN WARS ARE NOT OVER”


(February 13, 2007, unsurrendered Squamish Territory (Vancouver, BC) Three Native Warriors were targeted and arrested yesterday during a protest against the 2010 Winter Olympic Games planned to take place in Vancouver/Whistler, KKKanada. NYM Warrior, Tselletkwe, of the Secwepemc Nation, Gord Hill of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation and Lynn Highway of the Anishnabe Nation and the Indigenous Resistance Organizing Committee (IROC), were hauled away by the Vancouver Police, who are notorious for police terrorism they inflict on Indigenous Peoples.

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee and the Vancouver Board of Trade (businessmen) were celebrating the unveiling of a “3 year countdown clock” in the downtown business district in Vancouver, marking exactly 3 years until the Olympic Games invade Indigenous Territories here in Vancouver, BC. Just as their festivities were to begin, one Native Warrior stormed the stage and took over the microphone, yelling, “F*#! the Olympics,” until he was captured by Vancouver police and rushed off stage.

Native People from across BC participated in this rally along with non-natives who are protesting the gentrification of their neighborhood and the eviction of hundreds from low-income housing in the downtown eastside. A total of seven protesters were arrested during this Anti-Olympic protest.

NYM Warrior Tselletkwe made a statement upon her release, stating “Our land is not for Sale, we are still at war with KKKanada, we have never surrendered our land. We want the whole World to know not to come to our country and to boycott KKKanada and the 2010 Olympic Games. Tourism is not welcome here.”

This is not the first time Natives have been arrested protesting the 2010 Winter Olympics, Pacheedaht, Nuuchahnulth Elder Harriet Nahanee was arrested and sentenced to 14 days in jail for protesting the expansion and development of the Sea-to-Sky Highway, leading from Vancouver to Whistler, in preparation to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The destruction of Indigenous Territories and Sacred Sites must be stopped.

NYM spokesperson, stated in response to the arrests that, “Human and Indigenous Rights violations here in KKKanada must stop, the governments and corporations continue to drive our People from our homeland and destroy our food and medicine harvesting areas and basic necessities to survive our traditional, ancestral way of life. The Olympics is a global event and it will take the global community to awaken their conscience to boycott this 17-day event.”

For more information or to join the Anti-Olympic Coalition contact:

Native Youth Movement
nymcommunications@hotmail.com
(604)682-3269 ext. 7845 or

Warrior Publications
Warrior-Publications@hotmail.com

NYM Communications
NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT
FIGHT FOR LIFE
WARRIORS UNITE FROM ALASKA TO ARGENTINA


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UPDATE: As of last night, February 13, all three warriors have been released from jail.

Tselletkwe and two anti-poverty protesters were released without charge on the night of February 12 and were greeted and fed by comrades waiting outside the jail for them.

On February 13, comrades attended the pre-release court hearing of Gord Hill, Lynn Highway, and two anti-poverty protesters, and waited for them outside the jail, until their release.

Gord Hill faces charges of mischief and causing a public disturbance. Lynn Highway faces a charge of mischief. The two anti-poverty protesters who appeared in court also face charges. One man is charged with mischief and causing a public disturbance and a woman is charged with assaulting a police officer.

- Update by an anarchist in Vancouver



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