Five demonstrators arrested at Kinder Morgan kayak protest

Arrests made at Kinder Morgan protest Several protestors attached themselves to a Kinder Morgan barge.

RCMP officers arrested five anti-Trans Mountain pipeline demonstrators Saturday who attached themselves to a Kinder Morgan boat in the Burrard Inlet as part of a massive flotilla protest against construction on the pipeline expansion.

An RCMP boat approached the demonstrators, and activist organizations captured footage of the arrests.

#BREAKING: 4 activists are being arrested for stopping #KinderMorgan construction with the #StopKMFlotilla pic.twitter.com/couzu9R1pK

"I can confirm there were five people arrested for mischief following yesterday's Kinder Morgan flotilla protest," Cpl. Janelle Shoihet said in a statement.

All five have since been released but are expected to appear in court at a later date.

Sarah Beuhler, a digital consultant with Coast Protectors, told CTV News that eight kayakers roped themselves to a Kinder Morgan barge. She said they want to signal to the company, investors and politicians that they're serious about halting construction.

"This is our home, not theirs," she said.

The commotion happened during a protest took place in North Vancouver Saturday to oppose construction on the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion.

Representatives from environmental groups, several First Nations and many regular people joined forces to say the pipeline project is not welcome in Metro Vancouver.

"Vancouver and this inlet can't afford a disaster or spill like we saw in the Mount Polley Mine disaster," said Kanahus Manuel, one of the flotilla organizers and member of the Secwepemc Nation.

Manuel is also part of another resistance effort on her Nation's territory called Tiny House Warriors building tiny houses along the pipeline's route to prevent it being built.

"It's important for me to be here today because 518 kilometers of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline proposes to go through our unceded Secwepemc territory," she said.

The pipeline expansion project aims to triple the capacity of the existing Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline that transports bitumen from Alberta to port in Burnaby.

The expansion will increase tanker traffic in the Burrard Inlet, which kayaktivist Eric Hawthorne thinks is unacceptable.

"Vancouver harbour should not mainly be an oil terminal," he said. "There's so much other life and business that goes on here that depends on our environment, our oceans. This has the potential to ruin all of that."

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Julie Nolin