Protesters briefly barricaded a rail line north of Toronto Sunday evening and threatened to stop CP Rail's Olympic Spirit Train, but police quickly persuaded them to end their protest after about an hour.

"They listened to reasoning and they're dispersing," said Sgt. Mike Sterchele of York Regional Police. "We always like to negotiate these things to a peaceful end."

The group issued a news release earlier Sunday vowing to block the train's cross-country route to bring attention to what it called unresolved issues with aboriginals, the poor and the environment related to the staging of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

"This is an act of solidarity with those First Nations on the West Coast," protest spokesman Dan Keller told the Canadian Press in a phone interview.

About 20 activists assembled on the railway line and one woman chained herself to the tracks, Keller and police said.

"The ultimate aim of this is, of course, to stop the Spirit train," Keller said.

Keller did not immediately return phone calls after the protesters dispersed.

The train left Port Moody, B.C., on Sept. 21, on a trip to promote the Games. It spent Saturday in Sudbury, Ont., and was scheduled Sunday to travel south to Mississauga, west of Toronto. It was not clear exactly where the train was at the time the protest started.

CP Rail touted the train as a "mobile ambassador moving the Olympic spirit to Canadian communities."

Keller said the protesters hoped they could stop the train from spreading what he called propaganda about the Games.

Target of opposition

Opposition to the Olympic Games has been constant since Vancouver was awarded the bid in 2003 but some protest groups say their membership is getting stronger as the Games near.

First Nations activists have been vocal in their opposition to the Games, saying they are being held illegally on traditional territories.

This is an attitude organizers have worked hard to counter. The federal government has signed agreements worth billions of dollars with the four bands whose traditional territories are home to the Games and with whom Olympic organizers have also built official relationships.

Both CP and the Vancouver organizing committee have said they are prepared for protests.

CP Rail, as the official rail freight services supplier to the 2010 Vancouver Games, paid somewhere between $3 million and $15 million for the sponsorship, in exchange for access to tickets and the use of Olympic trademarks for such promotional events.