A group of demonstrators calling on the B.C. government to take urgent action on the climate emergency will hold its "grand finale" by blocking one of Vancouver's main arteries heading into Halloween weekend.
Extinction Rebellion's Vancouver chapter plans to block a major intersection on Friday (Oct. 29) evening on the final day of its two-week demonstration in the city.
Extinction Rebellion member and President of Unifor Local 950 Brent Eichler tells Vancouver Is Awesome that the intersection is still undetermined. "A snake march is a route that moves randomly through the streets but at the end, we will block an intersection."
Eicher adds, however, that the intersection will be the "most disruptive that we can find."
The group will meet at Nelson Park at 4:30 p.m. before marching through downtown. The activists plan to "lock themselves to a structure, risking arrest" for their grand finale of the October Rebellion.
Each day of the fourteen-day rebellion had a specific theme, with the overarching demand of ending all subsidies for fossil fuel projects.
The group commenced the first of "14 days of disruption" in the city on Oct. 16 by blocking the intersection of Burrard and Georgia streets. The VPD said approximately 50 people marched through the downtown Vancouver intersection and four of them were arrested.
So far, there have been a total of forty-nine arrests, including one in Nanaimo. However, the group is calling for "more arrests" during its final day of civil disobedience.
"It will make people angry."
Eichler told V.I.A. in a previous interview that the group knows their demonstrations will make locals angry — particularly those who are behind the wheel.
"We understand that and we accept that there is no other way...because we tried every other way," he stated, adding that the protesters must accept "huge personal costs."
David Suzuki attended Extinction Rebellion's first of "14 days of disruption" on Oct. 16 where he spoke to demonstrators and passersby.
The environmental group has demanded that Canada's provincial and federal governments end fossil fuel subsidies before the 26th annual UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, which is something Suzuki said must happen.
"You know what the United Nations said in 2019: We are facing a loss of biodiversity, unprecedented — and it threatens the biosphere for humans," he told V.I.A. in a previous interview.
"How can we survive in a world in which humans have taken over the bulk of the planet, eliminated so many ecosystems and species? It's really quite terrifying."
Read a full interview with Suzuki regarding his thoughts on the local protests.
