Vancouver, July 9 (RHC)-- In British Columbia, Canada, a dozen Greenpeace activists have ended their blockade of an oil tanker, after police forced them to end their protest against the Canadian government’s plans to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The 35-hour blockade saw seven of the activists dangling on rappelling ropes below the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge in Vancouver, blocking the path of a tanker loaded with oil from the Alberta tar sands.

If completed, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will triple the amount of tar sands oil flowing to the coast of British Columbia.  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision in May to nationalize the pipeline project sparked widespread condemnation from First Nations and environmental activists, who say the project will increase pollution in Alberta’s tar sands region, endanger indigenous communities and increase greenhouse gas emissions.