Monday, May 16, 2016

Halted Oil Trains, Arrests, and Crowds of Thousands Spread Across 6 Continents in ‘Break Free’ Protest

Break Free Protesters on Railroad Tracks (Credit: Break Free PNW) Click to Enlarge.
Thousands of people around the country protested over the weekend to stop fossil fuels and demand a just transition to an economy that uses 100 percent renewable energy.  More than 50 people were arrested in the Pacific Northwest and five others were arrested in upstate New York, where protesters stopped trains carrying crude oil.

Meanwhile, demonstrations in Washington, D.C., Albany, and Los Angeles drew thousands more to the Break Free movement, which brought a coalition of environmental groups together over 12 days of global action and civil disobedience.

On Saturday, five people were arrested in New York after two women suspended themselves from a train trestle where trains cross, carrying crude oil from the Alberta tar sands.  Since the ropes were looped over the track, if the the so-called “bomb train” had crossed the bridge, it would have severed the climbers’ ropes.  The train was stopped for over two hours, local news sources reported.
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“The global climate system, on which every human depends, is no longer stable because our governments have utterly failed us,” Marissa Shea, one of the activists, said in a statement. “So now, for our survival, we will act on climate ourselves.”

Read more at Halted Oil Trains, Arrests, and Crowds of Thousands Spread Across 6 Continents in ‘Break Free’ Protest

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