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Protesters paint Winnipeg police headquarters after man arrested and charged

July 26, 2023, Winnipeg, Man. – Winnipeg police saw their headquarters partially covered with red paint during a protest Tuesday night.

The event, which was livestreamed on social media, saw at least one woman putting red handprints along the building’s exterior and painting slogans with a derogatory term for police.

The protest occurred after police arrested a man connected to ongoing encampments that are pushing governments to search landfills for the remains of Indigenous women.

Police allege the man threatened two private security guards, and have charged him with uttering threats, mischief and possessing body armour without a permit.

Police say the protest outside the headquarters broke up after a few hours, and they closed off some services in the morning while the vandalism was investigated.

Chief Danny Smyth asked for calm in a message posted online.

“The Winnipeg police are doing their best to balance the right to protest peacefully, but there is very little tolerance for those that act unlawfully or aggressively,” Smyth wrote Wednesday evening.

“Those that do will be held accountable.”

Pressure has been building for a search of the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill north of Winnipeg for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, whose remains are believed to have been dumped there last year.

Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in those deaths and the deaths of two other Indigenous women: Rebecca Contois, whose partial remains were found last year at the city-owned Brady Road landfill, and an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders are calling Buffalo Woman, whose remains have not been found.

The Manitoba government has said it will not support a search because it would expose searchers to asbestos and toxic chemicals with no guarantee of success.

Protesters have set up two encampments in Winnipeg to keep pressuring the province to change its mind. They are also asking the federal government to step in.