Over 500 people turned out from all across the province today in Fredericton for another large-scale anti-shale gas protest. Marching from the Old Native Burial Grounds on Woodstock road, demonstrators wound their way downtown to the Legislature, where speeches, music and drumming were heard. A concert was also held and the hat was passed to raise money for Penobsquis residents to defray their mining commission costs. Almost $2000 was donated.
Previous protests netted over 1000 attendees, but unlike those, today's ended with the occupation of the Legislature grounds. The Native community erected a giant teepee with elders planning on camping out in it for the next several days, including the opening of the Legislature on November 23rd. They hope doing so will apply more pressure on the government to hear their message of no shale gas in the province.
Another anti-shale gas protest is also scheduled for the 23rd, with an even larger turn out than today expected.
Below are some scenes from today.
The march begins...
Signs, signs, everywhere signs...
Faces in the crowd...
Police escorts and traffic control...
Going through downtown Fredericton...
Arrival at the Legislature...
Up goes the tee-pee...
Speeches and music on the Legislature doorstep...
MC Derek Simon rouses the crowd and begins events on the Legislature grounds
Jean-Louis Deveau speaks of the Acadian fight for survival and having to fight again for the province's water
Popular New Brunswick singer Chris Boudreau performs a protest song fashioned from one of his original works
Former gas field worker Maxime Daigle crunched the numbers from a DNR report, shocking the crowd with disparities between government fact and statistical reality
To the tune of Lennon's 'Give peace a chance", Mike Humble, left, and Carson Rehn sing..."all we are sayin' is no shale gas..."
Megan Betts represents the voice of youth on the issue of shale gas
"What the frack is goin' on..." The originators of the frack rap
Penobsquis resident Chris Bell gives a moving, powerful and angry speech on the plight of her town damaged by mining
Attending as a civilian, CBC's Andy Wilson, centre, appears to be anti-shale gas
The Conservation Council's Executive Director David Coon protests while sporting a movember 'stache
NDP leader Dominic Cardy,centre, and Green Party rep Janice Harvey, second from right, kibbutz on the Legislature grounds
Green Party leader, Greta Doucet, left, protests shale gas at the Legislature today
Not arrested...yet
