Two Victoria residents face criminal charges and remain in custody after the northbound lane of the Trans-Canada Highway in Langford was blocked during rush hour Wednesday.
“Those types of illegal demonstrations will not be tolerated and those committing these criminal acts will be arrested promptly and held accountable,” RCMP Staff Sgt. Chris Boucher, acting officer in charge of West Shore RCMP, said Friday.
“Even though we were able to manage to have traffic routed around the protesters, those individuals caused a significant traffic backlog that, without a doubt, created a lot of frustration among motorists who needed to attend medical appointments, child care services etc.”
RCMP were called to the intersection of the highway and the West Shore Parkway where four or five individuals were sitting on the road blocking vehicles.
When officers arrived, all but two people left the road. A man and a woman had attached themselves to a barrel filled concrete, a West Shore RCMP statement said. “Those individuals secured themselves through the barrel as a tactic to impede and slow down their removal process.”
Specialized officers showed up to safely remove the two from the barrel and eventually open the road.
The highway was affected for about four hours.
A 33-year-old man has been charged with with mischief, intimidation and failing to comply with the conditions of an undertaking, while a 23-year-old woman has been charged with mischief and intimidation.
They were held in custody and appeared in provincial court on Thursday.
The group Save Old Growth has staged a number of protests blocking roads this year.
Its online posts show some heated confrontations with motorists in the capital region and in the Vancouver area.
One video shows one man picking up orange traffic cones from Langford this week and tossing them to the side of the road. Another man yelled at protesters that his children were in the car and were sick.
