Pushing and shoving broke out Wednesday morning at a protest outside Confederation Building in St. John’s, where fish harvesters are blocking access to the home of Newfoundland and Labrador’s government on budget day.
CBC News reporters at the scene witnessed an intense exchange between a group of protesters and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary around 8:30 a.m. NT, with officers pushing them back from an entrance at the rear of the building.
Video from the scene shows public servants struggling to get through the melee and get to work. At one point, Meghan McCabe, director of communications for Premier Andrew Furey, tried to get through the crowd but was pushed back by a pair of irate protesters hurling expletives.
“Get back. Don’t be stupid,” one yelled as McCabe walked backwards away from them.
Protesters pleaded with police to not let the public servants inside.
“If you’re going to let them in, you’re only going to cause trouble for yourselves. And that we will guarantee,” said one protester to an officer.
Meghan McCabe, the communications director for N.L. Premier Andrew Furey, tried to enter Confederation Building Wednesday amid dozens of angry protesters. She was yelled at and one protester led her away while police looked on.
A spokesperson for the provincial government said they are “respectfully” asking the fish harvesters to allow employees, media and guests into the building “so Budget 2024 can be delivered as planned.”
The hundreds of protesters are fish harvesters and supporters, who have been lobbying government to open markets to outside buyers since early March.
As it stands, they can only sell their catches to buyers inside the province at a price agreed upon by the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union and the Association of Seafood Producers.
The chaotic scene began before sunrise, when Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers on horseback pushed back protesters as they moved towards the building around 6:30 a.m. NT.
Police and fish harvesters got physical around 8:30 a.m. NT on Wednesday, as protesters moved toward an entrance to Confederation Building in St. John’s.
“Stay back!” police yelled at the group.
“Is this a public building?” one responded. “Don’t we pay for this building?”
‘We’re tired of being kept down’
Protesters vowed to stay there all day.
“We just want the right to sell our product where we can,” sad Alfred Fitzpatrick, a fisherman from the Burin Peninsula. “They never go to Nova Scotia and tell the crowd up to the Annapolis Valley you can only sell apples in Nova Scotia. Why are they telling us we can only sell fish here in Newfoundland?”
Fisheries Minister Elvis Loveless says he’s willing to meet some of the demands tabled by harvesters, and his department has issued an expression of interest for outside buyers for the 2024 snow crab fishery.
But harvesters say their protest is not just about crab — they want similar restrictions lifted on the sale of all species they catch.
Fitzpatrick said he felt Loveless’ statements were a “stall tactic” as crab season approaches.
“We’re tired of being kept down,” he said. “We’ve got a government that’s sitting by and letting it happen and a union that’s been too complacent over the years. And this is why we’re in the state we’re in. But we’re here and we ain’t going nowhere.”
WARNING: Explicit language | Police officers pushed back protesting fish harvesters outside Confederation Building on Wednesday, as fish harvesters attempted to block the entrances on what is supposed to be Budget Day 2024.
The protests have caused also commotion inside the House of Assembly, as harvesters took to the public gallery and refused to heed warnings to sit down and be quiet, leading to Speaker Derek Bennett removing them from the chambers.
They’ve also blocked off a provincial fisheries building in St. John’s, preventing employees from going inside.
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