From Google News:
Five climate change protesters charged with trespassing after crashing ...
Vancouver Sun - 57 minutes ago
VANCOUVER - A group of five protesters were arrested and charged with trespassing after crashing Tuesday's public hearings on Enbridge's Northern Gateway project at its Vancouver venue.
"group" is a collective noun.
It takes a singular verb no matter what modifier (of five) is used.
This is/was grade 4 English.
Where are they finding their writers?