“This is an actual emergency right now, and if we don’t start investing in health today, we are not going to be in any place to combat climate disaster in the future.” A protester locks his arms around the window frames of a car at 14th and C streets SW. “Would you sit here and start talking and arguing about tactics, or would you start moving?” “The theme of today is, how would you act if your house was on fire?” she said. He added that one of the reasons communities like his have certain health conditions is due to the prevalence of lead in the housing there.īlack Lives Matter lead organizer Makia Green echoed those sentiments and emphasized action. “We were always told by our grandparents that, ‘The reason you have asthma is because of where we live.'” “I live in far Northeast that’s where I grew up … near the Pepco Plant, which was decommissioned in 2012,” he said. (Courtesy Periscope/Unicorn Riot)Ĭommunity Advisory Commissioner Anthony Lorenzo Green told WTOP’s Melissa Howell that he felt it was important for someone east of the river to come to the protest. Protesters on top of a van that police towed at 14th and C Street SW. at four key locations: in Northwest at Farragut Square at Columbus Circle in Southwest at Hancock Park/L’Enfant Metro station and at Folger Park. Protesters started gathering just before 7 a.m. listed meeting spots for different groups organizing the protest in all four quadrants of D.C. That included over a dozen intersections in the District “where corporate and government power holders who are blocking serious action on climate are located,” they said.Ī news release from the Coalition to Shut Down D.C. aimed to block “key infrastructure to stop business-as-usual, bringing the whole city to a gridlocked standstill,” organizers said on its website. “If you’re coming in anywhere near the National Mall, you’re going to be impacted by this,” NBC Washington’s Adam Tuss told WTOP in the morning hours.ĭrivers heading into D.C. Most drivers in the area saw some kind of delay, however. There are no reports of injuries, and protesters didn’t cause any significant damage. Protesters arrested at the Black Lives Matter/Health care blockade and the students arrested with the college student block were released around 12:30 p.m. police will be charged with blocking an intersection and, so far, that’s as serious as the charges get. It was inconveniencing thousands of people,” Newsham said on WTOP. “The arrests at 3rd and New York - as you know, that’s a major artery into the city. police Chief Peter Newsham said protesters who closed New York Avenue were given warnings before they were arrested. The protests sparked a significant police presence.ĭ.C. I’m hearing radio chatter on a blockade at Dupont Circle. None of the protesters cut loose were arrested. The protesters were freed by 10 a.m., and the boat was towed away after.īoat update: The sit-in at K and 16th is over. They covered protesters in blankets and put headphones on them for protection. There was no official count of protesters, but organizers claimed in an email “as many as” 2,000 protesters took part and disrupted a total of 22 intersections across the city.Īuthorities began cutting the metal the protesters had used to bind themselves to the sailboat around 8:30 a.m. Most road closures were cleared by police shortly after 11 a.m., when the protests began to wind down.Įarlier, at 12th and Independence Avenue, protesters used a large pink-and-yellow sailboat to close the road during the morning rush hour. Capitol police arrested six at Washington and Independence avenues for “unlawful demonstration activities.” police arrested at least 26 climate protesters who used a sailboat, vans, cars, ladders and sit-ins Monday morning to block key intersections for hours around the District. Environmental activists pressured lawmakers to declare a climate change emergency by paralyzing morning traffic in the nation’s capital. Protesters with Extinction Rebellion stage a sit-in beneath their sailboat blockade at the intersection of K and 16th streets in Washington, D.C. Business & Finance Click to expand menu.
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