Anti-oil group glues hands to ground at Trudeau airport in third day of protests

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Environmental protesters once again glued their hands to the road at Trudeau airport Friday, this time blocking access to the arrivals area.

The anti-oil protest by Last Generation Canada is the third in a row of its kind at the airport demanding an end to fossil fuels.

The protest began at around 12:30 p.m. In addition to three protesters gluing their hands to the road, others held up banners that read “Oil Kills,” the group said in a statement.

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“Last Generation Canada uses non-destructive, non-violent civil disobedience tactics. As a result, no passengers or airport property were put at risk during the action,” the group said.

In a statement on X, the airport said the protest was causing delays at the exit.

“Measures are in place to remedy this situation as soon as possible,” the post reads. “We invite users to use the express drop-off points at parking lots P4 and P10.”

At around 1:30 p.m., Montreal police said they were on the scene providing support to airport security.

The first protest, held Wednesday, saw three protesters glue their hands to the road to block the departures ramp, backing up traffic for hours. On Thursday, two protesters sprayed pink paint onto the doors and windows of the departures area. All were arrested and subsequently released on a promise to appear in court.

The group’s goal is to pressure the Canadian government to sign a treaty to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. The government would also be required to help other countries transition away from oil.

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Last Generation Canada is also calling on the government to create a national firefighting agency, including 50,000 firefighters and a citizens’ assembly, that would be responsible for deciding how to tackle the climate crisis.

“Last year’s wildfire season was devastating, and it’s not going to get gentler going forward,” protester Ben Welchner, 32, said in a statement. “Three out of four Canadians support a national firefighting agency, and in a healthy democracy that would be enough. It clearly isn’t. Instead, they’re fuelling the fire by expanding the fossil fuel industry. We’ve tried being polite, and we’ve tried keeping our disruptions out of ordinary Canadians’ way. Now, if we want to survive, this is what we have to do.”

Vincent Lacombe, 27, added: “Just in the past week, we’ve seen Jasper burn to the ground, and floods hit Montreal and Toronto. We’ve been voting, marching, signing petitions and nothing has worked. We don’t have time.

“The only answer is nonviolent civil resistance.”

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