by Skylar Simmons/Earth First! Newswire
Aug 12. Two weeks after dozens of anti-pipeline activists were arrested for occupying the lobby of Environmental Resource Management in Washington DC, hundreds of protestors descended on the State Department to demand that Obama pull the plug on the Keystone XL pipeline.
After a silent march to the State Department, 60 of the protestors engaged in a sit-in at the entrance to the building. Dozens of beefy Homeland Security agents wearing bullet proof vests were on hand to welcome the protestors.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia, came to the Monday protest to engage in civil disobedience because “it’s clear that it’s the responsibility of human beings to heal the earth.”
“I have five grandchildren,” Waskow said. “I would love them to grow up in a world that’s as healthy, as beautiful, as decent, as abundant as the one I grew up in.”
In what appeared to be an attempt to defuse the protest, police chose to wait out the protesters engaging in civil disobedience rather than make a news story out of dragging grandpas and grandmas off of the State Department steps.
This summer has seen growing outrage and protests against the Kesytone XL pipeline. As Obama continues to drag his feet on climate change it is clear that protests against the Keystone XL pipeline and other fossil fuel infrastructure will only continue to grow and escalate.
