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Climate change protests in Vancouver target Black Friday consumerism (PHOTOS)

A duo of climate change protests took over downtown Vancouver Friday afternoon.

A duo of climate change protests took over downtown Vancouver Friday afternoon.

 Extinction Rebellion Vancouver staged a funeral procession and wake for the planet downtown Friday afternoon. Photo Dan Toulgoet

The Sustainabiliteens group held its monthly Friday Global Climate Strike on Granville Street between Georgia and Dunsmuir. The event included a dance party, clothing swap and a round dance — a healing ceremony that became a social dance for Indigenous people.

“We are coming together to prove we have solutions for the climate crisis,” the group said on the Facebook event page. “This crisis is not the fault of individual actions, but rather society’s failure to recognize our interconnectedness with each other and the earth — as exemplified by Black Friday.”

A second protest organized by Extinction Rebellion Vancouver also took aim at Black Friday.

Hundreds of activists took to the streets staging a funeral march and wake for “funeral service for the future of our planet, our ecosystems, and for the lives lost in the climate crisis.”

 Extinction Rebellion Vancouver staged a funeral procession and wake for the planet downtown Friday afternoon. Photo Dan ToulgoetExtinction Rebellion Vancouver staged a funeral procession and wake for the planet downtown Friday afternoon. Photo Dan Toulgoet

The procession, complete with a casket that carried the message “Change or die,” made its way through downtown and into Pacific Centre mall for a die in.

“This solemn demonstration of grief will disrupt the business as usual on consumerism’s holiest day. Our goal is to send a strong message to our local and provincial government that they need to start offering more than nice words in this climate crisis, or prepare for mass non-violent civil disobedience,” Extinction Rebellion Vancouver spokesperson Grace Grignon said Thursday in a press release.

 Extinction Rebellion Vancouver staged a funeral procession and wake for the planet downtown Friday afternoon. Photo Dan ToulgoetExtinction Rebellion Vancouver staged a funeral procession and wake for the planet downtown Friday afternoon. Photo Dan Toulgoet

Vancouver Police say Between 12 and 7 p.m., police were forced to arrest six people for mischief after they stopped traffic and erected structures blocking a main intersection.  Protestors perched themselves on top of the structures and refused to leave the area, despite several requests, and then warnings, from officers.

The protest was peaceful with no major incidents until the arrests. 

 Extinction Rebellion Vancouver staged a funeral procession and wake for the planet downtown Friday afternoon. Photo Dan ToulgoetExtinction Rebellion Vancouver staged a funeral procession and wake for the planet downtown Friday afternoon. Photo Dan Toulgoet

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