B.C. old-growth forest protesters to stop blocking roads, group says

It may be good news for drivers around parts of B.C. — the Save Old Growth protest movement says it will be scaling back its disruptions on local roads.

The environmental group has been blocking major bridges and highways on the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island for months. These demonstrations ramped up over the past several weeks, with many Save Old Growth members arrested as a result.

In a statement posted to social media, the group says it will “de-escalate disruptive actions on critical transportation infrastructure.” It notes it will now be “turning its attention to other tactics,” citing public outreach and events as those options.

“Major traffic disruptions will end today,” said the Save Old Growth Central Organizing Committee. “Other strategies will be used that won’t stop traffic.”

https://twitter.com/saveoldgrowth/status/1542228687864573952

The group says it is still urging the provincial government to permanently end the logging of old-growth forests in B.C.

The announcement follows the detention of Zain Haq, a Save Old Growth organizer, by border officials.

According to reports, Haq, who has previously been arrested for taking part in protests, is here on a student visa from Pakistan. The Simon Fraser University Student was detained earlier this month by the CBSA.

Haq told the National Observer he is worried about being potentially deported over his work with the organization.

Meanwhile, frustrations over the group’s protests have led to a series of confrontations between drivers and activists. In one instance, drivers were filmed getting out of their cars and forcibly moving protesters who had blocked the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge.

In mid June, it was announced that a group of people in B.C. was aiming to file a class-action lawsuit against Save Old Growth demonstrators, with some people saying they were fed up with the traffic backlogs.

Protests have also prompted stern words from B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth, who did not mince words earlier this month when he echoed drivers’ frustrations.

“They are accomplishing absolutely nothing other than aggravating, annoying and frustrating people who are trying to go about their daily business,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going through their mind because they’re not helping their cause in any way, shape, or form,” Farnworth said on June 13.

“I don’t know what’s going through their mind because they’re not helping their cause in any way, shape, or form.”

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Related articles: 

• Petition aims at filing class-action lawsuit against B.C. old-growth logging protesters

• Farnworth mirrors commuters’ frustrations after Save Old Growth blockades around B.C.

• Save Old Growth protester hospitalized after falling from ladder on Vancouver Island

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Farnworth noted that protesters were also putting themselves and others in danger. However, in response, Haq said the real danger people were facing was that of global average temperatures rising.

“We’re looking at mass starvation, at a scale we’ve never seen before because it’s going to be impossible to grow food in many parts of Canada,” he said. “We’re looking at societal collapse and an extreme amount of unprecedented danger to public safety.

“So what we’re trying to do is, we’re putting ourselves in harm’s way in order to prevent harm in the future.”

With files from Michael Williams, Liza Yuzda, and Kurtis Doering