A series of anti-logging protests on Highway 1 turned violent early Thursday morning as some drivers had apparently had enough of the traffic disruptions.
A video posted by the group Save Old Growth (embedded below) shows some of their members sitting on the deck of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. Suddenly, in steps some drivers who had left their vehicles to try and drag the protesters out of their path.
“The Trans-Canada Highway has been blocked by Save Old Growth,” reads a tweet. “People were violently attacked by angry commuters and stayed calm and nonviolent during the process.”
Traffic was backed up well into Burnaby. These protests have been going on for several weeks, but multiple events staged just in the last couple of days. Earlier this week, two people were arrested at the intersection of Grandview and Boundary Road for blocking traffic.
A man walks over to one of the demonstrators who is laying on the ground and asks him, "you want to die, bro?"
A protester responds by stating that "we are all going to die if we don't do something."
Look, I get that commuters are frustrated by the disruptions, but putting your hands on someone else is wrong and unacceptable so please, if you’re reading this, just stay in your vehicle and wait for the police to arrive.
Breaking - The Trans-Canada Highway has been blocked by Save Old Growth. People were violently attacked by angry commuters and stayed calm and nonviolent during the process. pic.twitter.com/WpY8eUrVXw
— Save Old Growth (@saveoldgrowth) April 21, 2022
This was the group’s 10th direct-action in Vancouver and Burnaby this month. A total of 84 people have been arrested on B.C. highways since January in Vancouver, Burnaby Revelstoke, Victoria and Nanaimo.
“We’re done being afraid. We won’t stop until the government passes legislation to end all old growth logging. This is not a big demand, we’ve only got 2.7% of the productive old growth left. Killing the last of these ancient trees is a death sentence for millions of Canadians due to ecological breakdown,” said Julia Torgerson, a spokesperson for the group, in a statement.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
