CALEDONIA, Ont. — Haudenosaunee demonstrators have returned to the site of a housing development at the centre of a land dispute on the border of Caledonia, Ont., hours after nine people were arrested following a violent clash.
Provincial police say they went to the McKenzie Meadows development on Wednesday to enforce a court injunction ordering demonstrators off the land.
Protesters dubbed the land “1492 Land Back Lane” when they began occupying it more than two weeks ago, arguing that the development violates the sovereignty of the Haudenosaunee.
Police allege some of the occupiers threw “large rocks” at officers, and say that officers responded by firing a single round from a weapon that shoots rubber bullets.
They say nine people were arrested and later released.
The Haudenosaunee — a group that includes the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora First Nations — are also known as the Iroquois or the Six Nations, and were involved in a similar land dispute in 2006.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2020.
The Canadian Press
