At what point does protest fatigue kick in in Burnaby?
Posted March 19, 2018 3:26 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – At what point does protest fatigue kick in? Police in Burnaby have arrested several demonstrators who’ve been fighting Kinder Morgan’s expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline.
But after days and days of protesting the same issue, will public opinion change for better or worse?
UBC sociology professor David Tindall says as long as the protesters remain peaceful, there’s little chance of a backlash.
“A couple of things I think that are important–one is what are the actual activities of the protesters? If they are peaceful and there’s no threat of violence or anything like that, you know, I don’t think there’s much of a risk of public opinion shifting. If there’s violence and that sort of thing, that can be a big problem.”
He draws comparisons to the civil rights movement in the United States when the actions of police went under the microscope.
“On TV, there’s a lot of images of African-Americans, being attacked by police and state troopers and stuff, including children, and that really turned public opinion in support of the civil rights movement. That can make a big difference.”
Demonstrations against the $7-billion project that would triple the pipeline’s capacity from 300,000 barrels per day to nearly 900,000 have stepped up in recent weeks.