A group protesting old-growth logging on Vancouver Island is hitting out at an “insinuation” they were involved in the suspected arson of logging equipment last week. Sgt. Kevin Mack with Lake Cowichan RCMP says officers responded to the scene of the suspected arson at a site operated by Fraser Valley Timber on Jan. 2, and they are keeping an “open eye to all possibilities.” Two grapple yarders and a log loader reportedly sustained more than $530,000 in damage in the fires… The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but media reports quoted a spokesman suggesting that the proximity of the protest camp wasn’t a coincidence. But the Walbran Valley Blockade protest camp says its code “explicitly prohibits violence and the damage or destruction of property.” It says it supports a full and transparent investigation and that “assigning blame before the facts are known serves to vilify forest protectors.”

Related coverage from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police: Damaged logging equipment