Victoria traffic disruptions planned during 'super-rally' for old-growth logging activists
Activists opposed to old-growth logging in British Columbia are planning to converge on the B.C. legislature grounds for a "super-rally" Saturday, prompting a warning from Victoria police to expect traffic disruptions in the downtown core.
Police are planning to close Douglas Street to traffic from Centennial Square to the legislature grounds between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., when protesters plan to march to the government buildings.
Additional police officers and surveillance cameras will be deployed downtown for the duration of the protest.
"The deployment of these cameras is part of our operations to help keep Saturday’s events safe and peaceful and is in keeping with both provincial and federal privacy laws," Victoria police said in a statement Thursday.
"Temporary signs are up in the area to ensure that the public is aware. The cameras will be taken down once the events have concluded."
Dubbed the "United We Stand for Old Growth Forests! Declaration, March and Super-Rally," the action is in response to the B.C. government's failures to protect the province's most at-risk old-growth forests from logging, according to a statement from the organizers.
Speakers scheduled to attend the rally at the legislature include environmentalist David Suzuki, Pacheedaht First Nation elder Bill Jones and Karen Price, an ecologist and provincial Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel member.
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