5 climate activists arrested after blockade of downtown Vancouver intersection during rush-hour

Vancouver -

Five people were arrested Friday evening as B.C. climate activists wrapped up 14 consecutive days of protest ahead of the United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

World leaders are set to discuss emission reduction targets at the summit, which runs from Oct. 31 through Nov. 12.

In the lead-up to the meetings, climate activists with the Vancouver chapter of Extinction Rebellion conducted direct-action in public for two-weeks straight, protesting Canada’s investments in fossil fuels.

The five arrests came after three people locked themselves into a concrete structure in the middle of an intersection near the downtown entrance to the Burrard Street Bridge, and two others were for other related conduct.

Those who locked-down attached themselves to a specially-constructed concrete block that allows activists to release themselves as they choose but is impossible for anyone else – such as law enforcement – to detach them unless they destroy the structure.

“The activists released themselves after three hours, and were promptly arrested,” reads a statement from Extinction Rebellion.

According to the Vancouver Police Department, the activists freed themselves after Vancouver Fire Rescue Services came to the scene to cut them out of the structure.

Vancouver Police Department’s Sgt. Steve Addison alleges the other two people were arrested after laying down in the road, and that all of them were taken to jail. But Extinction Rebellion’s communications coordinator Sara Hall says only one person laid down on the road, and that the other was directing traffic around the blockade – and was released on-site.

“One (person), who was directing traffic, was arrested unlawfully and quickly released. The other was arrested for lying down in the intersection in solidarity and refusing to leave,” reads the Extinction Rebellion press release sent by Hall.

The protest group says those who were arrested were treated roughly by police.