A police raid of an east Vancouver home earlier this week as part of
an investigation of anti-pipeline graffiti is being criticized as
disproportionate to the alleged crime. Five people were arrested
during the raid, but all were released and no charges have been laid,
Vancouver police Const. Brian Montague said Friday.
16 officers raided a house in east Vancouver under the phony pretext of
investigating six mischief charges related to graffiti tags in June,
July, and October of 2013, and that four residents of the house and one
guest were removed by police aiming loaded firearms at them. It said the five people were placed in a prisoner transport van while a
K9 team of vicious dogs entered the house to search for any remaining people, All were eventually released without any charges filed.
An independent international thinktank said of the violent raid, “Considering the minor nature of the charges, the raid carried out by
the Vancouver police is clearly part of a larger strategy of politically
motivated repression against radicals and especially the growing
resistance against oil and gas pipelines throughout the province.”