Anonymous submission to North Shore. The land defender in question was released this morning.

Yesterday, Hamilton cops arrested a Haudenosaunee woman while she was in her car with her kids for charges related to 1492 Landback Lane. We’ve seen time and again how Landback Lane has been hyper-surveilled and criminalized. In this case, the person was dealing with existing charges just for dropping off food and supplies at the site. And now, a false related charge apparently warranted ambushing and arresting her in front of her kids.

The community reacted quickly and met up this evening in front of the police station in solidarity. It was a strong a spirited display including music, speeches and chants. The crowd took the street and marched to the intersection of King and James, which was held for about an hour.

The demo focused on the injustice of an Indigenous woman being arrested on stolen land for caring for her people. Speakers also highlighted that this is the kind of fine service we can expect only more of with the HPS’s recently-approved 2.98% budget increase for 2021. Furthermore, in this case, the HPS arrested the woman in order to turn her over to the OPP – all these police forces work together and are all despicable.

It goes without saying that police are the enemies of Indigenous people and their allies working to defend the land and honor Indigenous people’s relationship to it. Fuck all the police. We don’t need them, and we will continue to take care of each other.