Protest

Olympic Spirit Train Protest ends peacefully

Protesters block rail line in hopes of halting CP Rail Olympic Spirit Train

(The Canadian Press circulated the following on October 12.)

VAUGHAN, Ontario — Protesters briefly barricaded a railway line north of Toronto Sunday evening and threatened to stop CP Rail’s Olympic Spirit Train, but police quickly persuaded them to end their protest after about an hour.

“They listened to reasoning and they’re dispersing,” said Sgt. Mike Sterchele of York Region Police, the police department responsible for this suburban region north of Toronto.

“We always like to negotiate these things to a peaceful end.”

Nobody was arrested.

The group issued a news release earlier Sunday vowing to block the train’s route to bring attention to what it called unresolved issues with aboriginals, the poor and the environment related to the staging of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

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The Olympics are supposed to be about the sports and not about politics. But wherever there is a large audience and lots of press, there are going to be political protesters. The Beijing Olympics had the Tibet protesters, and Vancouver is going to have the First Nations. I’m sure every Olympics has had it. I think if I had something to protest, I might use the Olympics to do it too… Let’s just hope all of the First Nations protests end as peacefully as this one.