RCMP release video of suspects in alleged attack on Coastal GasLink pipeline worksite in B.C.

As RCMP continue to investigate a confrontation at a pipeline construction site in northern B.C., investigators have released video showing people, some with axes, attacking a vehicle with someone inside. 

RCMP said Tuesday the video contains footage of people similarly dressed storming the Coastal GasLink property, swinging axes at a company vehicle, spray painting a side window and setting off a suspected flare gun.

No CGL employees were injured, police said.

RCMP said they were called to Marten Forest Service Road about 60 kilometres south of Houston, B.C., shortly after midnight on Feb. 17 after CGL security reported violence at the site, where workers are helping build part of a 670-kilometre natural gas pipeline.

RCMP said around 20 people allegedly attacked security guards and employees.

"So these individuals, the 20 or so masked individuals, took these employees by surprise in a very aggressive and calculated method," Chief Supt. Warren Brown told CBC Friday morning.

CGL said heavy equipment at the site was commandeered by the attackers and used to damage other equipment, and that there were "millions of dollars in damage" to machinery although they're still estimating the final cost.

RCMP also said attackers used machinery at the site to damage buildings and the drill pad. When police arrived to investigate the damage, the attackers had already left, they said.

Police said Tuesday that access to the area is being controlled to ensure safety and preserve evidence.

In an account published on the Coastal GasLink website, a person Coastal GasLink says is an employee identified only as Trevor described masked people surrounding his vehicle and smashing it with axes.

The post also included an image of a damaged trailer. 

So far, neither the police nor CGL have explicitly said whether they believe the alleged attack is tied to opposition to the hotly contested pipeline that is planned to extend from northeastern B.C. to Kitimat on the province's North Coast through the territory of the Wet'suwet'en Nation.

CGL said the project is fully authorized and permitted by government and has the support of all 20 First Nation band councils, including five of the six band councils in the Wet'suwet'en Nation.

However, Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs have opposed the project, saying band councils do not have authority over land beyond reserve boundaries.