Protest Garden Planted on Zenith Energy Oil-Train Tracks for a Second Sunday in a Row

For a second Sunday in a row, activist Ken Ward was arrested for trespassing in Northwest Portland.

Portland police arrest an environmental protester at Zenith Energy on April 22, 2019. (Allison Place)
By Allison Place

Environmental activists, with the group Extinction Rebellion PDX, planted forget-me-nots this Sunday as they created another garden atop Zenith Energy's train tracks in Northwest Portland.

Ken Ward, an activist known as a "pipe turner" for directly cutting off the supply of crude oil to a refinery in Washington state, was among the fourteen environmental activists arrested today by Portland Police officers for trespassing on private property.

It was their second garden-party protest in as many weeks.

Related: Ken Ward Is Willing to Go to Jail for the Rest of His Life to Fight Climate Change. What About You?

Those arrested ranged in age from an 86 to 19. Six of the arrested activists, including Ward, were also among those arrested on Monday.

Related: Environmental Activist Ken Ward, Famed as a Pipe Turner, and Others Plant Garden on the Zenith Oil Tracks to Halt Trains Through Portland

The activists were arrested for protesting Zenith’s import of Alberta tar sands oil, which has dramatically increased despite Portland city council voting to block further expansion of fossil fuels in 2015.

In a Tweet, a group shot shows the activists on a wall with the spray painted note, "From this moment, despair ends and tactics begin."

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