Sunday 17 November 2013

Peaceful Demonstrators Gather at Meyers Farm, Police Respond En Masse

A small but dedicated group gathered at the Trenton Ontario farm of Frank Meyers on Sunday November 17 to demonstrate in opposition to the Department of National Defence's attempt to expropriate the prime farmland in order to build a military training facility.
Does a No Trespassing sign constitute
ownership?

Organizers of the event had intended for today's demonstration to mark the beginning of a peaceful occupation of the portion of Meyers' farm and outbuilding, which had been scheduled to be demolished the following day (November 18).*

The Occupation for Peace, in opposition to the military's plans for Frank's farm, has been postponed, along with the DND's demolition plans. Frank received word from the military, Saturday, that work would not begin to convert his farm into a specialized military training facility until some time in December. It would stand to reason that the postponement of the demolition is directly related to activist plans to occupy the land. In an effort to avoid interactions with protestors, I would not be surprised to see the DND attempt to begin work without warning, and at a time close to the holidays, when activists are less capable of mobilizing (maybe between Christmas and the new year?).

While the peaceful demonstrators did not occupy the "disputed" property, more than a dozen police officers including one CN Rail officer (Sabo), four military police (McCann, Long, Frost, Currie) and several OPP officers (Steele, Gibson, et al.) arrived at Meyers' farm in a show of force and intimidation. While on scene, cruisers drove onto the undisputed private property of Frank Meyers, and officers roamed the property, despite constant reminders from demonstrators that the Meyers farm is private property, and that their presence was not welcomed.

When asked by a demonstrator about the purpose of the police presence at the peaceful gathering on the farm, Quinte West OPP officer Shelley Steele responded, "We are here to just try to keep the peace for you guys." At the peak of police presence, there were eight cruisers, and twelve to fifteen armed officers on scene, compared to fifteen to twenty peaceful, unarmed demonstrators.

The dedicated group of demonstrators on hand Sunday has vowed to return to occupy the "disputed" property in order to prevent the demolition of Frank's outbuildings, and ultimately the construction of a military training facility on his land, and say that they expect a large mobilization of supporters in the coming weeks in order to ensure a substantial number of peaceful occupiers.

For updates on the Meyers farm, and the Occupation for Peace, please like the Facebook page.

Related posts:

Trenton Farm to be Occupied for Peace...
Government Steals Land to Build Murderer Training Camp

*The government, in their infinite benevolence, will allow Meyers to maintain ownership of a small piece of property consisting of his house, as well as the farm's original homestead and a few outbuilding.

4 comments:

  1. Why would they waste even more tax payers money sending so many police ?? Was there nothing else going on, no speeders, no shoplifters, no persons wanted that they should have been looking for and not wasting the 30 dollars an hour for each officer there? How many thousands of dollars do they have to waste? Maybe they are overstaffed and layoff's are in order.

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  2. starting to look like here in nb where the rcmp are being paid by oil companies to protect them from protest

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  3. Why hasn't anyone tried to get a protection order on the endangered plants on his property. Would delay a lot longer and give time to get a Queen's hearing done. She gave the family the land, they should be the only one to take it away

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    1. It's my understanding that this route is being pursued, through the MOE and the MNR. I haven't heard about what kind of response the ministries have given, and I wonder if it would help to get their attention by having many of us call and email to express concerns about the endangered species...

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