Demonstrators and supporters who blocked one of the main rail lines in Hamilton and halted rush hour GO service on Monday evening suggest they aren’t going anywhere soon.

After the OPP dismantled the rail blockade in Tyendinaga on Monday that has garnered national attention in solidarity with the B.C. Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, it didn’t take long for new ones to appear — including the one in Hamilton and another in nearby Caledonia.

“They’ve put out the comment that they are going to stay there indefinitely,” supporter Sonia Hill said of the protesters blocking the track connecting Hamilton and Burlington near York Boulevard. “They are standing with Wet’suwet’en.”

A group on Facebook called Wet’suwet’en Strong: Hamilton in Solidarity says they are blocking trains in response to the OPP’s action on the blockade near Belleville in eastern Ontario.

“Our intention is to stay here indefinitely and we are calling on others to join us,” a post to the Facebook group reads.

At 5:45 p.m., GO transit posted on Twitter that trains bound for Hamilton GO would be held at Aldershot due to “a group of people near our tracks.”

About 20 to 30 protesters were involved and stationed themselves in a CN rail yard near the Lakeshore West line that goes towards Niagara Falls, said Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins. The tracks don’t belong to Go Transit but nonetheless are preventing their trains from running through both stations.

A Facebook post from the protest group suggests the blockade is located near York Boulevard on the section of land separating Hamilton and Burlington between Cootes Paradise and Hamilton Harbour.

“We don’t have access to those tracks so we’re going to be stopping trains at Aldershot to stay safe,” she told the Star.

Hamilton police, CN Rail police and Metrolinx security are on scene monitoring the situation, she said.

Trains will not be running through the Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Hamilton, and West Harbour stations during the Tuesday morning rush hour as a result, Marie Aikins said. Shuttle buses will provide service in the meantime.

“Because our trains got stopped, so they didn’t get to go where they’re supposed to go, and so they are in the wrong position for the morning service,” she said. “They have settled in it looks like, there are chairs, and fires, and so forth.”

Police were preventing anyone — both media and members of the public — from getting much closer than a half a kilometre from the blockade. What appeared to be two fires could be seen from the location where police are preventing access. Police were also walking along the tracks with flashlights.

Hill, a Mohawk woman from Six Nations, was leaving the demonstration with three other supporters voluntarily around 7:30 p.m. She would not say how many protesters remained at the site but said “a good amount” remained. More than 15 police officers were also on the tracks, she said.

“It’s ridiculous,” she said of the police presence.

Her message to the public is that those gathered are protecting the land and standing in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en.

“Until RCMP are actually cleared out of Wet’suwet’en land ... they’ll continue to stand here in Hamilton,” she said. “I’m coming back tomorrow.”

The Hamilton in Solidarity Facebook group posted a video of a campfire, urging supporters to join them — but warning people to come in groups because “there are cops!” The posting suggests people slip through a guardrail fence, possibly using a rope to go down a “steep embankment.”

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CP and CN rail police were on the tracks near the blockade, while Hamilton police were securing a perimeter.

Also ongoing Monday evening, demonstrators were blocking Highway 6, causing traffic delays in Caledonia, say Ontario Provincial Police.

Const. Rodney LeClair said the blockade began Monday afternoon. The Highway 6 bypass remained closed between Argyle Street South and Greens Road as of 8 p.m.

LeClair said he believes the demonstration is in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en protests across the country.

“We are monitoring and assisting with traffic control,” he said of the police’s role at the demonstration. “Our primary goal is to preserve the peace and maintain a safe environment for everyone involved.”

The nation-wide demonstrations stem from disputes over a TransCanada pipeline in British Columbia. The northern B.C. region’s Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs are insistent that the Coastal GasLink pipeline project not go ahead on their traditional territory.

With files from Miriam Lafontaine

Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at the Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com

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