EMERY BACKERS RALLY, VOW WAR ON TORIES

Protest Staged Hours After Pot Activist Deported

More than 100 people shut down traffic at Cambie and Hastings streets
on Thursday for an ad hoc rally protesting the extradition of Marc
Emery, hours after the outspoken pot activist was sent to the United States.

Jodie Emery, Marc's wife, planted herself in the middle of the
intersection, waving a Canadian flag with a marijuana leaf on it and
shouting her outrage at her husband's extradition.

"My husband committed a crime punishable by only a $200 fine in
Canada, yet this Conservative government is sending him to ... (a)
U.S. jail," she said.

Jacob Hunter, one of the organizers, said it was clear from the
turnout that Vancouverites support Marc's cause.

"If you can do this in three hours, just think what we can do during
an election," he said.

"The Conservative government wanted a culture war. Well, they have
it. We will be at their offices, their campaign stops, their
speeches, fundraisers and every public event. We will hound them
until this government is defeated."

Hunter, Jodie and around 20 other activists protested at Prime
Minister Stephen Harper's Calgary office on Wednesday.

Marc, 52, was arrested in 2005 and charged with selling marijuana
seeds online to U.S. customers.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of drug distribution in exchange for
a five-year sentence.