Climate activists protest in Washington D.C. near the World Bank in 2019.

Tyrone Turner / DCist

Climate activists protest in Washington D.C. near the World Bank in 2019.Tyrone Turner / DCist
Allison Guy, from D.C., chants as part of the group, “Extinction Rebellion.” Tyrone Turner / DCist
Tyrone Turner / DCist
Tyrone Turner / DCist

Updated, 4:20 p.m.: 

No arrests were made during today’s climate demonstrations downtown, according to protest organizers and MPD spokesperson Alaina Gertz.

This, despite organizers saying they were prepared for arrest.

According to Shut Down D.C. organizer Raegan Davis, the demonstrations included a group of protestors who blocked the doors to the Chase Bank on New York Avenue NW, and another group chained themselves to the doors of the I Street Wells Fargo using PVC pipes that displayed the names of children who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

Activists also made speeches in front of BlackRock, calling it the “largest financier of the climate crisis” on the Fire Drill Fridays Twitter account.

Original:

Starting around 7:30 a.m Friday morning, an alliance of climate activists and social justice groups took to the streets in the area surrounding the World Bank, blocking traffic and demanding action to reduce fossil fuels.

Demonstrators also blocked traffic at locations across the city, with some wearing painted-on skull masks and holdings signs that read “Divest from oil,” “Mass extinction,” and “World Bank, you’ve been naughty. Stop funding climate change.” One group of protesters carried a large Earth balloon and a “Warming!” sign. The World Bank issued an advisory to its employees about the disruptions and recommending that they work from home, according to Shut Down D.C. spokesperson Nick Brana.

As of press time, there have been no arrests, according to organizers and D.C. Police. “The Metropolitan Police Department allows citizens to exercise their First Amendment rights as long as there is no danger or crime being committed and no use of force or legal action is needed,” spokesperson Brianna Jordan said over email.

But the action is ongoing. At 11 a.m., the group joined with movie star Jane Fonda’s rally at Franklin Square. Fonda has been hosting regular demonstrations against climate change on Fridays and has repeatedly been arrested as a result.

Organizers at Franklin Square say some demonstrators will end Fonda’s rally with “arrestable actions” and are prepared to be arrested, says Raegan Davis, an organizer with Shut Down D.C. and Code Pink D.C. The coalition plans to “protest three of the biggest culprits in terms of profiteering from the climate crisis,” at other locations in D.C, says Brana. Organizers declined to share which additional firms or institutions the group plans to demonstrate in front of.

The protest is a collaboration between the Shut Down D.C. coalition that protested multiple times in September (including traffic blockades that resulted in 32 arrests), a group called Extinction Rebellion D.C., and Jane Fonda’s Fire Drill Fridays. The groups are protesting international financial institutions that invest in fossil fuels, Brana says.

“The entire theme and what we’re emphasizing today is the banks, investment firms, the World Bank, and international institutions that are profiteering on the climate crisis,” Brana says.

The groups are also protesting U.S. firms that invest in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities. “These banks are now making even more money by investing in the devastating fallout of global heating,” organizers said in a statement. “First they drive climate migration, and then they profit from it.”

Around 11:15 a.m. Friday, organizers at Franklin Square finished debriefing with the protesters who are risking arrest. “We are protesting the intersection of climate injustice and migration injustice,” says Davis. “By and large, the same corporations that are funding the climate crisis are also funding the violation of migrants.”

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Filed Under: climate protest, shut down dc, world bank,