Protesters block trucks at Hamilton company, want Canada to stop selling arms used in Yemen
The group wants Canada to stop sending arms and vehicles to Saudi Arabia
A group of Hamilton anti-war demonstrators blocked trucks this morning at a Stoney Creek transportation firm in protest of what they say is trade that's fuelling the war in Yemen.
Members of World Beyond War and Labour Against the Arms Trade blocked trucks outside Paddock Transportation International at 199 Arvin Ave. near Gray Road.
The transportation company ships light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, World Beyond War said in a media release.
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In doing so, the group says, it's aiding "the brutal Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has killed almost a quarter of a million people." It's also calling on Ottawa to end arms exports to Saudi Arabia.
CBC News is pursuing comment and confirmation from Paddock.
Const. Jerome Stewart of Hamilton Police Service said officers came across the protest at about noon and the group dispersed shortly after they were told they could be charged under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.
"Police did not observe any acts of violence nor did they receive reports of that nature," he said.
The Hamilton protest was part of an International Day of Action on Yemen.
The country is embroiled in bloody civil war that pits a Saudi-led, U.S.-backed military coalition against the Houthis, who since 2014 have controlled most of northern Yemen, including the country's capital of Sanaa.
In the U.S., the Donald Trump administration declared the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, a designation that took effect on Jan. 19. President Joe Biden, who took office a day later, is reviewing that.
The civil war, the peace protesters say, is "the worst humanitarian crisis in the world," with more than four million people displaced and 80 per cent of the population in need of help. It also has one of the highest COVID-19 death rates in the world.
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