21 people were arrested in Vacouver today while protesting oil trains
21 people were arrested in Vacouver today while protesting oil trains Doug Brown

About a hundred people from around the region showed up to Vancouver, Wash., this morning to protest oil trains in the wake of the Mosier derailment and fire. Twenty-one people—mostly seniors and middle-aged folks with a handful of younger adult women—left in zip-tie handcuffs in the back of a Vancouver police van, charged with trespassing after refusing to get off train tracks for nearly four hours, blocking some trains from getting through.

The "mass civil disobedience action" was organized by the Fossil Fuel Resistance Network," a new group formed after the Mosier derailment.

The group got to the tracks around 9:30 this morning. They chanted, they sang, they used megaphones to voice their displeasure with oil trains. While Vancouver police used a loudspeaker to tell people they'll be arrested for trespassing if they don't leave, Ron Rose with the BSNF police department walked up to the group and gave them two warnings. The plan was for people to get arrested.

Soon, the 20+ people who were cool with getting arrested sat down in a circle on tracks. A short train approached, loudly blowing its whistle, stopping several dozen yards from the group. Vancouver police began plucking these folks one-by-one, using zip-tie handcuffs and ushering them to the back of a van. The crowd watching from the side cheered on the folks when they were picked out and arrested. It was all over at about 1 p.m., and then protesters headed to the jail to await the release of those arrested.

We'll have more in the coming days on oil trains but, for now, here's what the scene in Vancouver looked like:

DPB_1543.JPG

DPB_1559.JPG

DPB_1562.JPG

DPB_1566.JPG

DPB_1573.JPG

DPB_1576.JPG

DPB_1586.JPG

DPB_1604.JPG

DPB_1618.JPG

DPB_1625.JPG

DPB_1639.JPG

DPB_1674.JPG

DPB_1688.JPG

DPB_1764.JPG

DPB_1811.JPG

DPB_1813.JPG

DPB_1857.JPG

DPB_1870.JPG


DPB_1916.JPG

DPB_1972.JPG

DPB_2034.JPG

DPB_2040.JPG

DPB_2055.JPG

DPB_2090.JPG

DPB_2107.JPG

DPB_2126.JPG

DPB_2182.JPG

DPB_2185.JPG

DPB_2224.JPG

DPB_2231.JPG

DPB_2261.JPG

DPB_2272.JPG

DPB_2314.JPG

DPB_2345.JPG

DPB_2360.JPG

DPB_2371.JPG

DPB_2401.JPG

DPB_2411.JPG

DPB_2446.JPG

DPB_2460.JPG

DPB_2473.JPG

DPB_2489.JPG

DPB_2498.JPG

DPB_2531.JPG

DPB_2565.JPG

DPB_2599.JPG

DPB_2643.JPG

DPB_2674.JPG

DPB_2678.JPG

DPB_2711.JPG