Activist groups protesting against climate change and indifference of politicians on the issue are planning to disrupt morning commutes across Washington, D.C. on Friday, December 6, which will be the fourth action of its kind this year.
The protest is being organized by a coalition of environmentalist organizations known as “Shut Down D.C.” According to the group’s press statement published on Wednesday, the demonstrators will “shut down business-as-usual for the financial institutions that profit off of the climate crisis and immigrant detention.”
Attendees will meet at 11:00 a.m. in Franklin Square (14th St. and I St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20005) for the event titled “Mobilize for Climate Justice & Immigrant Rights” and start marching through the city’s streets at noon.
During the march, the group will visit major banks and financial institutions which are accused by environmentalists of “profiting off of the climate crisis,” calling on them to divest from fossil fuels.
Tomorrow we’re shutting down business as usual for the banks + investment firms funding the climate crisis and profiting from the incarceration of immigrant families.
Those killing the earth have names and addresses.
Join us in the streets https://t.co/Q8UqrqoBTR#ShutDownDC pic.twitter.com/aOLnA0D7Cd
— ShutDownDC (@ShutDown_DC) December 5, 2019
“We wanted to draw connections with international institutions that are essentially propping up the climate crisis with their continued support of fossil fuel use,” Nick Brana, a spokesperson for Shut Down D.C., told DCist.
“Around the world, climate change is driving mass migration as water dries up, farmland turns to desert, shorelines erode, coastal areas flood, permafrost melts and ecosystems can no longer support the communities they once could. And it is going to get much much worse. As far back as 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted that the greatest single impact of climate change could be on human migration – and we’re seeing this projection come true. The latest estimates predict as many as 200 million climate refugees by 2050,” Shut Down D.C.’s statement said.
Academy Award-winning actress and climate activist Jane Fonda will also take part in the rally. Fonda moved to D.C. temporarily in recent months, vowing that she would participate in climate actions held outside the U.S. Capitol every Friday. The 81-year-old was arrested by D.C. police multiple times during these protests.
Shut Down D.C. organized similar traffic gridlocks over the past few months, some of which lasting for hours, delaying drivers on their way to work.
Jane Fonda Jailed Overnight After Attending Climate Change Protest