Over the weekend, I’ll post pictures and more from yesterdays events, so check back. If you have pictures, send them to timb@thecoast.ca.
From what I understand, when the tree crew showed up, the text messaging and emails went out, and about 150 people showed up, surrounded the trees, climbed them. The cops showed up (including, awkwardly, Sheila Fougere’s husband), plucked a few people out of the trees, arrested a few. That was an awful lot of to-do to cut, in the end, just one tree. A real testament to citizen action.
I dropped by yesterday afternoon for an hour or so to check out the scene. It was a spirited crowd of maybe 50 people, and growing. What struck me the most was the overwhelmingly positive reaction of passersby, who were the commuters that the road project is supposedly benefitting. I’ve been to dozens of street demonstrations as a reporter, and usually the people driving by have little reaction. But yesterday, about a third, and at times even half, of the passing cars beeped horns in support, gave the thumbs-up. Only one person shouted insults.
This article appears in Jul 3-9, 2008.
Wish as many people would fuss when animals got killed.