Extinction Rebellion protesters confront politicians at US Capitol
Protesters from the climate crisis group Extinction Rebellion have brought disruption to Capitol Hill in Washington, superglueing themselves to doorways to block politicians and staff.
Just after 6pm, six activists stood in doorways to a tunnel connecting the Cannon office building to the US Capitol in an attempt to prevent members of Congress attending an evening vote.
A total of 17 activists were arrested and charged with crowding and obstructing, according to US Capitol police. Several were also charged with defacing public property.
Demonstrators said their goal was to force a House and Senate concurrent resolution on the climate emergency – currently on hold – to receive immediate attention.
In three pairs, they used Gorilla Glue to stick their hands to the doors and each other. They were draped in yellow and red tape that said “Caution” and wore yellow hazard signs that said “Declare climate emergency” or “Closed. We’re sorry. Due to the climate emergency Congress is shut down until sufficient action is taken to address the crisis.”
A few members of Congress arrived and, finding their route blocked, were forced to turn around. But other people, including fellow activists, gathered under the Cannon building rotunda to watch. The demonstrators shouted, “Climate emergency now!”, “We’re out of time!” and “This is not a drill!”
Among the protesters, her right hand glued to an open glass door, was Sara Soko, 22, from Washington, who said she was prepared to get arrested if necessary. “I’m doing this today because the Congress is dragging their feet on declaring a climate emergency, and it’s supposed to be like a speedy transition, and that’s what the resolution says. So we’re here to try and make this more urgent.”
Politicians had failed, Soko added. “They have not done anything,” she said. “And this resolution is asking the simplest thing: it’s just to recognise the science and to declare it an emergency and that we need to do something. And they can’t even do that.”
After a few minutes, US Capitol police arrived at the scene, pushing under one of the protester’s arms. He loudly exclaimed: “Ow!” The police then ordered spectators back about 10ft and formed a line of five officers.
One protester exclaimed: “DC was under water last week. DC was on fire this weekend. We can’t live much longer like this.” Another said: “I know you’re listening, officers, I know you have children. Do you want them to live in a world that’s burning? … I’ve always wanted to have children. Three weeks ago I broke down in my car because I realised I can’t bring a child into this world.”
Then a chant began: “What do we want? Climate emergency. When do we want it? Now.” Another loud chant followed: “Climate extinction rebellion.”
After a brief pause, a young man who was looking on began singing We Shall Not Be Moved and others joined in. Finally, about half an hour after the protest began, police ordered the impromptu gathering, including reporters, to move back and out of sight of the doorway protesters.
A simultaneous protest took place in the Rayburn building, again to deny access to the US Capitol.
Kaela Bamberger, a spokeswoman for Extinction Rebellion, which has staged attention-grabbing events in the
US and abroad, said a total of 16 activists had risked arrest with the intention of disrupting “business as usual”.
She added: “We believe the issue is so urgent it should be treated as a top priority. Petitioning and lobbying have been shown to be ineffective in the past, so we are taking extreme action to reflect the extreme nature of the crisis. The climate emergency should be treated with the gravity it deserves. “The legislative process has failed on the issue. We’re using nonviolent civil disobedience to combat complacency in Congress.”
Extinction Rebellion Washington DC published photos and videos of the intervention on its Twitter account. One tweet said: “We are superglued to the tunnels under the Capitol because what other choice do we have when our politicians choose money over life? We are risking our freedom and safety to demand a climate emergency declaration.”
Outside the Longworth building at 8.15pm, at least 10 of the protesters, under arrest and wearing plastic cuffs, were calmly loaded into two police vans while their possessions were held in transparent plastic bags as supporters watched. Some described how they had unstuck their hands from the doors in what was a slow and painful process. “I was worried about losing skin but that didn’t happen,” one said.
The organisation Movement for a People’s Party, which is separate from Extinction Rebellion but was involved in the demonstration, issued a press release stating that its national director, Nick Brana, had been arrested during protests at three underground tunnel entrances leading to the Capitol. “It is not known what charges have been leveled or when Brana and the others will be released,” it added.