The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Man, 77 ‘chains’ himself outside bank, shutting down business
3 dozen Wesleyan students, residents protest bank’s funding of Dakota Pipeline
MIDDLETOWN >> As police stood by, dozens of individuals, including Wesleyan students blocked the entrance to the Wells Fargo bank Friday afternoon in a rally against the financial institution’s funding of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Members of the climate justice organizations Wesleyan Coalition for Divestment and Transparency, Students Against the Fossil Fuel Industry and Dragonfly Climate Collective stood in a light rain on Washington Street, bearing banners and chanting and singing.
“From Standing Rock to Palestine, occupation is a crime” was just one of the cries intoned by those who took part.
Vic Lancia, 77, who attends many such events throughout the city, was the spectacle of the afternoon. As nearly a dozen Middletown police officers stood by, he sat on the cold sidewalk at the bank’s entrance beginning at 3 p.m., his arms inside tubes inside two garbage barrels filled with sand and large rocks He said his hands were locked inside the two trash cans and only he could unlock them.
John Scroth of Middletown was there for his family, he said. “I have two children and a desire to create a livable world for them.”
“We stand with the people of Standing Rock and against genocide,” said Wesleyan junior Vera Benkoil.
Others carried signs reading “Reject Wells Fargo,” “Capitalism Kills,” “Support Standing Rock,” “No DAPL,” “From Standing Rock to Flint to Palestine, Water is Life” and “Resist Climate Colonialism.”
With a sign around his neck that read “Medical alert: hypoglycemia, asthmatic, high blood pressure, diabetic,” Lancia, who said he had several other health problems, shouted, “We don’t know what community is.
“We don’t know how to be a community with the earth. We are related to the earth. We are of the earth,” as those gathered cheered and clapped.
“It beats sitting in a nursing home, waiting to die,” said Lancia, explaining why he was out in bad weather and would place himself in such an uncomfortable position.
“I do it for the animals,” Lancia said. “If we don’t do it for the species, we’re going to take a lot of other species down with us. There is no reverence for life. We’ve forgotten about it completely for the almighty dollar and I’m getting sick of it. I’m getting sick and tired of it.”
He was attended to by a first responder who gave him water from a bottle and when the rain began, held an umbrella over him.
Police, who repeatedly warned nine students who stood with linked arms in a line, blocking the drivethrough lane at 4 p.m., they had to move to the sidewalk or risk arrest. They also told Lancia that if he didn’t leave by 5 p.m., when the bank was to close, he would be charged as well.
“He’s holding onto something in the buckets right now,” said one officer. “He’s going to be arrested. After 5 o’clock, he’s supposed he’s going to be done with his demonstration,” he said.
All the protesters left promptly at 5 p.m.
“Middletown residents have been protesting week after week at Wells Fargo, adding to the international pressure on Wells Fargo and other banks to stop funding the Dakota Access Pipeline project that threatens the land, water and sovereignty of the Standing Rock Sioux and surrounding indigenous communities in North Dakota,” Wesleyan student Dan Fischer wrote in a press release prior to the rally.
“We closed down the branch earlier, someone tried to get in and the police said, ‘sorry, it’s closed,’ so no one has been able to go in since Vic locked it down shortly after 3 o’clock.”
Fischer said Lancia could unlock himself at any time, “but the police could not remove him because they don’t want him harmed. Vic is 77 years old, he’s very eager to do this because of his concern for the well-being of future generations and for the planet.”
The protesters gathered in solidarity with groups such as Red Warrior Society “and other water protectors and indigenous warriors who have been taking direct action to block the DAPL and other fossil fuel infrastructure,” according to the release.