Two arrested during tense protest at wharf where contentious N.S. fishery underway – CTV News

Sept. 11, 2023

RCMP arrested and later released two men for alleged assaults on Saturday after police responded to what they described as “an assembly” at a fishing wharf in southwestern Nova Scotia.

The Mounties say eight officers from six detachments attended a protest by a group of people gathered at the Saulnierville Wharf road.

RCMP spokesman Const. Guillaume Tremblay said police couldn’t provide further details on the reason for the gathering of about 30 people, or whether there were conflicts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishers during the afternoon protest.

The wharf on St. Mary’s Bay was the scene of confrontation between Indigenous fishers and commercial fishers in September 2020 when the Sipekne’katik First Nation launched a self-regulated lobster fishery.

Investigators say while the officers were at Saturday’s gathering they saw a 34-year-old Digby County man assaulting another man, after being pushed.

Police say a few minutes later another man grabbed another person by the neck, and a 29-year-old from Hants County was also arrested.

The two men who were allegedly assaulted were uninjured and investigators said they requested that charges not proceed. The RCMP release says the 34-year-old and 39-year-old men were later released and apologized to the victims.

Read More: https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/two-arrested-during-tense-protest-at-wharf-where-contentious-n-s-fishery-underway-1.6555454