Protester ordered to stay away from Enbridge sites

An anti-Enbridge protester arrested Wednesday is prohibited from going near any Enbridge properties as part of bail conditions imposed Thursday.

Trish Mills is also not allowed to have any contact with other Enbridge protesters charged as a result of the shutting down of Wednesdays court hearing.

Mills was among seven protesters taken into police custody Wednesday afternoon during a court appearance for 13 activists who took over Enbridge's Westover pumping station in June. Mills, 29, is charged with causing a disturbance, assaulting a peace officer and obstructing a peace officer.

Six other protesters are charged in relation to the incident. Alexander Tigchelaar, 31, of Hamilton is charged with two counts of assaulting a peace officer and one count of causing a disturbance. Five othersthree from Hamilton, one from Toronto and one from Guelphare charged with causing a disturbance.

Mills was held for bail because of previous charges, said Const. Debbie McGreal-Dinning, spokesperson forHamilton Police Service. The otherswere released with a promise to appear in court.

Wednesday'sdramatic events began when an officer asked a woman sitting in the second row to leave the courtroom after she repeatedly snapped her fingers and clicked her tongue. The officer had previously warned her to stop her behaviour.

On her way out, the woman said she didn't "want to be here in the first place" and swore and coughed loudly.

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Protesters and their friends followed the woman as she was escorted by the officer out of the courtroom. She was led into a room with at least one officer.

The situation quickly escalated when protesters tried to push the door open while the officers tried to close it. A number of scuffles broke out in the hallway. Some protesters fell on the floor and refused to get up.

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Protesters started clapping and chanting "cops, pigs, murderers" and "let her go." A dozen officers were called to the third floor of the courthouse as the situation became more volatile.

Officers were dispatched to the scene to "ensure the safety of the judiciary, the members of the public, the police and the accused persons themselves," Hamilton Police Service said in a media release Thursday.

During the altercation, police said, two members of the group assaulted a special constable.

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The appearance was for 13 people charged with trespassing offences following a takeover of Enbridge's Westover pumping station in June. Four protesters chained themselves to fences at the station to protest the reversal of oil flow in line 9B, which runs from rural Hamilton to Montreal.