Travelers between West Vancouver and downtown were told to expect delays on Wednesday morning as the protest temporarily blocked traffic at a major intersection.
Save Old Growth members said they blocked the lanes of the Lions Gate Bridge with a parked car shortly after 7:30 a.m.
“Expect big delays and traffic jams in Vancouver,” the provincial Department of Transportation said in a statement on social media. “The evaluation is underway, please consider an alternative route.”
It looks like someone threw keys, which may be from a parked vehicle off the bridge. Two people were detained on the spot by the police.
Crews diverted traffic to the east lane of the bridge, alternating north and south, but there was still a significant reserve just before 8 a.m.
Around 8:10 a.m., most of the protest was cleared, but drivers were still warned to expect continued delays and congestion.
Wednesday’s blockade is the latest in a series of anti-trafficking protests that have aggravated travelers in recent months. The group says it wants to see an end to deforestation in British Columbia through legislative changes.
“They may not like our tactics, but they want to keep the old growth,” protester Sam Nguyen said last week about the impact the demonstrations were having on travelers.
“We tried petitions, we tried to talk about civil rights, 30 years have passed, nothing has happened – we do not want to go on the roads. We don’t want to stop these people from working. “
Many members of the group have been arrested repeatedly, including its co-founder Zain Haq.
Simon Fraser, an international student at the university, has been arrested 10 times in various climate protests since 2020. And on February 15, he was sentenced to two weeks in prison for contempt of court after violating an order to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Huck is now worried that his climate activism has made him a target for deportation. The third-year student is from Pakistan and has a study permit, a document issued by the Immigration Service of Canada.
Some conditions for obtaining a training permit include compliance with the law and lack of a criminal record.
“It is really important that our mobilization does not collapse,” he said.
“So I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on right now, so I’m not potentially in town.”
With files from Shelley Moore of CTV News in Vancouver and Rochelle Baker of the National Observer of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative
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