Arrests continue at site of old-growth logging protests on Vancouver Island

Mounties say they removed an old-growth logging protester from a 'tripod structure' at an encampment near Port Renfrew on Thursday. (B.C. RCMP - image credit)

One day after the B.C. government agreed to defer old-growth logging in two regions of southwestern Vancouver Island, police have arrested another eight protesters in the area.

RCMP continued to enforce a court injunction Thursday to allow forestry company Teal-Jones to continue logging in its 595-square-kilometre tenure.

Police action focused on an encampment near Port Renfrew. They say all arrests Thursday were for allegedly breaching the injunction.

One of the eight people arrested was perched atop what Mounties describe as a "tripod structure" built from three slender tree trunks.

Since they began enforcing the injunction in mid-May, police say they have arrested 206 people.

The latest update from RCMP comes after Premier John Horgan agreed on Wednesday to a request from the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht and Pacheedaht First Nations to defer logging in Fairy Creek near Port Renfrew as well as the central Walbran area. The deferral in the two areas involves about 2,000 hectares of old-growth forest.

But protesters with the Rainforest Flying Squad have said they will not be leaving the area, as logging could still happen in old-growth areas next to Fairy Creek and parts of central Walbran not included in the deferral.