Greenpeace activists scaled the Biosphere on Ile Ste. Helene Wednesday morning in an attempt to draw attention to the plight of fellow protesters in Russia.
Montrealer Alexandre Paul is one of a large group of Greenpeace activists who has been in jail since September following a protest near an Arctic oil platform.
Paul's family has participated in several vigils and protests in Montreal to demand government action, and they were at Wednesday's protest as well.
She said she was inspired taken by the actions taken to bring attention to her son's plight.
Police and firefighters watched the climbers with a careful eye, but made no move to scale the structure and attempt to remove or dissuade the activists.
Around 8:30 a.m. Andreanne Lalonde, Philippe Dumont and David Major unfurled a banner that read "Free our activists, free the Arctic 30."
At 11:30 a.m., after being on the metal dome for more than four hours, they climbed down and were promptly arrested by Montreal police.
Greenpeace pressuring governments
Since Russian authorities arrested the protesters in September, Greenpeace has been asking the governments of its members' home countries to pressure Russia to free the activists.
Originally charged with piracy, charges for many of the group have since been downgraded to hooliganism.
Several of the 30 protesters have been granted bail, including Paul Ruzycki of Colborne, Ontario -- although the court in St. Petersburg set his bail at two million rubles (approx. $64,000).
Paul is scheduled to have a court hearing Thursday.
Paul's father Raymond said his son was being imprisoned in harsh conditions.
"He must be scared a little bit because it's not the kind of detention that we have here," said Raymond Paul.
He described that his son is sharing a cell with several other people who do not speak English or French.
"During they daytime they turn off the heat so they have to go to sleep with [their clothes] on you because you freeze," said Paul.
In early October Quebec's International Relations Minister Jean-Francois Lisée asked Russia to grant Paul clemency, and met with his federal counterpart John Baird to ask him to do the same.
