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The city expected it could take all day to remove the camp. “I think there was sufficient notice given to the occupants of Camp Cloud,” the City of Burnaby acting manager, Dipak Dattani, said of the timing of the action.

Photo by Nick Procaylo / PNG

Xenoa Skinteh, 29, said he was arrested while protecting the “sacred fire” at Camp Cloud. “They stormed the gate and they said anyone around here was violating the injunction and (will be) arrested,” he said.

Skinteh said he was released by police after he agreed to leave the area. But he said he would continue his peaceful protest.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge granted the Burnaby an injunction on Aug. 10 ordering protesters to take down their camp by Sunday and prohibiting similar occupations in the future.

Photo by BEN NELMS / THE CANADIAN PRESS

The city, which is opposed to the pipeline, sought the injunction because the camp violated building, traffic and fire bylaws.

Police “maintained a dialogue with the camp residents in the hopes they would obey the injunction” and leave within the 48-hour deadline set by the court, the RCMP said.

That deadline passed Sunday, but protesters said they were prepared to protect a sacred fire, which has been burning since the camp was set up late last year. They also said they were prepared to tie themselves to structures rather than obey the injunction.

Thursday’s police action received a mixed reaction from Burnaby residents.

Lesley Durrant, who lives near the protest camp, says she has more sympathy for those protesting the pipeline expansion than she does for Kinder Morgan.