100 Protestors Arrested At Largest Global Protest in History (Video)
Over half a million people from 150 countries participated in People’s Climate March September 20-21 just before the emergency UN Climate Summit. Demonstrators “demanded ambitious commitments from world leaders.” Then on September 22 civil disobedience entitled Flood Wall Street followed with a “massive sit-in intended to at once compliment, punctuate and radicalize the politics of the march itself.” Police arrested 100 protestors.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80QgIefALcU]
According to peoplesclimate.org’s written statement, Keya Chatterjee WWF’s Director of Renewable Energy Outreach said,
“All the big social movements in history have had people in the streets –women’s voting rights, the civil rights movement – and even more recently, on climate issues.”
The people People’s Climate March swelled to 400,000. Kim Glas Executive Director of the BlueGreen Alliance said,
“Finding the right solutions means we’re also creating family-sustaining jobs in construction, manufacturing, and other economic sectors along the way.”
Now unions are joining the climate fight. Héctor Figueroa President of 32BJ SEIU said,
“We live in the communities that get destroyed by storms like Sandy. We work in the buildings that get flooded. We get hit by health epidemics like asthma that are rampant in our communities.”
And George Miranda President of Teamsters Joint Council 16 said,
“Workers are the ones who are most vulnerable to climate change impacts, and we are the ones who lead the cleanup after events like Sandy.”
Notable participants in the People’s Climate March included:
- UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
- NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio
- Former Vice President Al Gore
- Edward Norton
- Sting
- U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
- U.S. Senator Bernard Sanders
- U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer
- U.S. Representative for Minnesota, Keith Ellison
- U.S. Representative for New York, Nydia Velázquez
- U.S. Representative for New York, Jerrold Nadler
- Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres
Cindy Wiesner Co-Director Of The Climate Justice Alliance said,
“The frontlines of the climate crisis are low-income people, communities of color and indigenous…We are the hardest hit by both climate disruption––the storms, floods and droughts––as well as by the extractive, polluting and wasteful industries causing global warming.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hosted the UN Climate Summit attended by more than 125 world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
Wenonah Hauter Executive Director, Food & Water Watch said,
“We join the People’s Climate March to let global climate leaders know…they cannot underestimate the climate impacts of methane leaks from fracking.”
Marc Yaggi Executive Director of the Waterkeeper Alliance said,
“I marched today on behalf of…the 226 Waterkeeper organizations around the world who are on the front lines of climate change. As we’ve seen, the climate crisis is really a water crisis.”
400,000 Attended Protest.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Of David Shankbone CC creative commons.
A total of 1574 groups came together with demonstrations from Melbourne, Australia to London, from Paris to Rio, from Jakarta to Istanbul. Steve Kretzmann Executive Director of Oil Change International said,
“When people lead, leaders listen…The hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of New York today are only a fraction of the millions around the world who are blocking pipelines, stopping coal plants, and building a new clean energy future one solar panel at a time.”
Annie Leonard Executive Director of Greenpeace USA said,
“Shell is set to drill for oil in the American Arctic waters next year. More oil to burn means more global warming, so what happens in the Arctic affects us all.”
On the political front Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said,
“It’s time to tell the special interests that continue to deny the science and mislead the public to step aside, and make way for progress.”
And Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said,
“The People’s Climate March on Sunday will be the largest climate action in history…I am proud to participate in this urgent, historic event.”
Climate change knows no borders.
