Nine people were arrested Wednesday at the site of an aboriginal protest in Caledonia.

The protesters were arrested at a housing development a few kilometres away from the original site occupied by Six Nations protesters nearly two years ago. It is the same location where there was a violent confrontation last week.

Construction workers resumed work at the Stirling Street subdivision on Wednesday watched over by a small group of native protesters on a nearby hill. 
 
Nine aboriginal men and women were arrested after refusing to leave the property in the town southwest of Hamilton. 

Witnesses said more than 100 officers were on hand to make the arrests, many dressed in riot gear.
 
Joe Gualtieri was one of the witnesses. His brother, Sam, was beaten unconscious last week after asking protesters to leave a house he's building in a subdivision for his daughters. Sam Gualtieri was released from hospital on Wednesday.

Joe Gualtieri said residents cheered as officers moved in.

"There must have been 100 riot police there with their batons and their shields and started walking, marching in unison, banging their shields lightly. Walked way up to the mound, over a 100, and more police came from everywhere, every direction."
 
Hazel Hill of the Six Nations Confederacy didn't see the police action, but said the police response appears to have been excessive.

"You know the people that were there were unarmed and trying to be peacefully demonstrating," she said.