By JIM GENARO

About 50 environmental protestors, many of them dressed like canaries and polar bears, converged on the Bank of America on Patton Avenue downtown last Monday afternoon, forcing the bank to close for about two hours.

Police in riot gear responded to the demonstration and a section of Patton Avenue was closed for about 30 minutes.

Organizers of the protest, who had been participating in the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action last week in Brevard, said they wanted to draw attention to the Bank of Americaís investments in companies such as Massey Energy and Arch Coal, which practice mountaintop-removal coal mining.

Several activists locked themselves to fixtures in the lobby while others blockaded the entrance to the bank.

Most of the protesters moved out of the bank and walked across the street to Pritchard Park shortly after about 25 crowd-control officers arrived in riot gear, along with canines. Five of them were arrested on charges of trespassing and resisting arrest, Capt. Tim Splain, a spokesman for the Asheville Police Department, said.

However, he noted that most of the protesters conducted themselves in an orderly manner.

Prompted by unspecific information about the planned protest, police had speculated earlier that day that the planned demonstration would take place at Progress Energyís Lake Julian power plant.

A traffic checkpoint was set up about a half a mile from the coal-fueld plant. Officers checked several vehicles entering the road leading into the plant, including a FedEx delivery truck, but found no suspicious activity. Activities at the power plant were not disrupted.

Regan Richmond, a media spokesperson for the group, said that no protest had been planned at Lake Julian.

A statement from the group listed 10 demands, including that the Bank of America cease investments in the coal industry, a 90 percent global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, an end to mountaintop removal coal mining and an immediate end to all new nuclear and coal power plants.

The protesters complained in a press release after the event that the APD ìresponded by repeatedly using high voltage electric shock devices, known as tasers, on the defenseless protesters.î

However, Splain, in a phone interview with the Daily Planet last Tuesday, denied that tasers were used.

He said that a bank supervisor had requested that police use tasers, but that ìnone were used and weíre getting the video tape from the bankî to verify this.

About 20 officers were inside the bank at the time, Splain said, as well as the crowd control officers, who did not get directly involved, but served as a deterrent.

He said that while the protesters had indicated that they wanted to protest at a coal plant, he was not surprised that they moved it, given the strong police presence near the facility.

ìThere was a lot done in between Transylvania County ... and Asheville,î Splain noted. ìThey knew we had air surveillance. It was relatively overt on our part.î

Despite the arrests, Splain said that the protesters were generally repectful.No property damage was done during the protest and no on was injured, Splain said. ìThere was no destruction or anything that takes away from their message ... nothing that puts us truly at odds.î