A group opposing old-growth logging that has staged blockades on major highways, resulting in hours-long traffic delays, arrests and injuries, announced Wednesday it will move away from blocking roads and transition to public education.
“We will de-escalate disruptive actions on critical transportation infrastructure,” the Save Old Growth organizing committee said.
The group said it will shift to tactics including public outreach and events, but declined further comment.
Save Old Growth began staging province-wide blockades earlier this year after giving the provincial government a Jan. 9 deadline to take “urgent steps” to stop all old-growth logging permanently.
On Jan. 10, protesters lay across the southbound lanes of Douglas Street at Burnside Road, disrupting traffic for hours and resulting in seven arrests.
Then on June 13, protesters blocked the northbound lanes of the Pat Bay Highway near the Swartz Bay ferry terminal, chaining themselves through vehicles and tubes through barrels of cement. Traffic was delayed for hours.
A male protester propped up on a ladder — held in place with guy-wires attached to a makeshift platform on the back of a truck — toppled to the ground after a frustrated driver broke part of the structure.
The blockades prompted a public outcry.
In May, a group calling itself Clear the Road launched a petition and was proposing a class-action lawsuit against those “behind the illegal blockades in British Columbia,” saying authorities needed to send a clear message that blocking roads is not acceptable.
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