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Indigenous demonstrators and their allies blocked new rail lines, highways and other critical infrastructure points Tuesday — including the Port of Vancouver — as protests that began in a tiny B.C. community months ago once again grew and spread to new sites all over the country.

The demonstrations, sparked by opposition to a proposed B.C. gas line, have already become the defining challenge of Justin Trudeau’s still-young second term as prime minister. The blockades and related protests have exposed a seemingly impossible line Trudeau must walk — to satisfy critics and allies alike — between climate change action, Indigenous reconciliation and the development of new oil and gas infrastructure.

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To make things worse for Trudeau, the protests this week have shown signs of settling into an intractable cycle of crackdown and escalation. Members of the Ontario Provincial Police forcibly cleared out a Mohawk demonstration along the CN rail line at Tyendenaga, near Belleville, Ontario, Monday. On Tuesday, in response, allied protestors occupied and blocked commuter rail lines into and out of Toronto and Hamilton during both the morning and evening commutes, forcing transport agencies to shut down several lines and delay or reroute thousands of passengers. While the protest in Hamilton “peacefully” disbanded early on Tuesday evening, a new one already popped up near train tracks in Etobicoke in Toronto’s west end.