Mass Climate Protest Disrupts Wall St Financial District

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See also - photo: Jordan Mammo on Twitter: "Police have arrested the polar bear #FloodWallStreet"

UPDATE: Mass Climate Protest Disrupts Financial District — Hundreds Currently Risking Arrest

Thousands ‘Flood’ Financial District Following Sunday’s Historic March

Photos available here

New York, NY — 3,000 people dressed in blue are currently between Exchange Place and The Bull in Manhattan’s financial district, sitting down to interrupt the business day and targeting corporations and businesses financing and fueling the climate crisis.

“Communities that are first and most impacted by storms, floods and droughts are also on the frontlines of fighting the dig-burn-dump economy causing climate change,” said Michael Leon Guerrero of the Climate Justice Alliance. “We are flooding Wall Street to stop its financing of planetary destruction, and to make way for living economies that benefit people and the planet.”

“Many of us were also involved with Occupy Wall Street,” said Michael Premo, an organizer of Flood Wall Street and a Brooklyn-based artist. “Just like the financial crisis, the climate crisis is a product of an underlying political crisis. It’s the result of policies that serve the shortsighted interests of the few over the survival and well being of everyone.”

Yesterday’s historic 400,000-person march showed widespread support for action on climate change, and Flood Wall Street is confronting those who stand in the way of change and connecting the climate movement with a long tradition of nonviolent direct action.

“Throughout history, people have engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience in response to moral crises, when political leaders have failed to act,” said Vida James, a Flood Wall Street organizer. “What could constitute more of a moral crisis than the health and survival of our planet, our communities, and our grandchildren?”

Art, music, and giant visuals are prominent features of the festive demonstration, beginning the day with the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, a local activist marching band. Nearly a hundred people carried a 300-foot banner that read: “Capitalism = Climate Chaos — Flood Wall Street,” among many other visuals.

The day began with speakers from around the world that have been impacted by climate change, emphasizing that leadership on climate justice must come from below.

“The real solution to global warming is organizing workers worldwide for the construction of a new model, with justice, equality and respect for life,” said Elisa Estronioli, a Brazilian land-rights activist.
More updates coming.

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http://floodwallstreet.net

Advisory

Mass Sit-in to Confront Wall Street
for Financing Climate Change

Protesters Flood Financial District After Climate March

New York, NY — A “flood” of people from across the globe, dressed in blue, will take to the streets of New York’s Financial District on Monday to highlight the role of Wall Street in fueling the climate crisis. Coming a day after more than 400,000 took part in the People’s Climate March, #FloodWallStreet will target corporate polluters and those profiting from the fossil fuel industry. Participants will carry out a massive sit-in to disrupt business as usual. Speakers will include members of communities that have been hardest hit by the climate crisis, as well as author-activists Naomi Klein, Chris Hedges and Rebecca Solnit.

“Two years ago, Superstorm Sandy literally flooded New York’s Financial District — but it didn’t phase Wall Street and their drive for the short term profits that flow from the cooking of the planet,” says Klein. “Which is why we’re going to flood them again.”

WHEN: Monday, Sept. 22, 11 a.m. (full schedule below). Interview opportunities throughout the day – please check in at the media desk

WHERE:Program at Battery Park. | Sit-in elsewhere in the Financial District

WHO: Hundreds of concerned people from around the world. Speakers include Naomi Klein, Chris Hedges, Rebecca Solnit and members of front-line communities around the world. Other notable participants include Bill McKibben

VISUALS: Masses of activists in blue sitting-in and risking arrest, accompanied by a 15-foot inflatable ‘carbon bubble’, a marching band, oversized puppets, a 300-foot #FloodWallStreet banner, and other large-scale art pieces.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

9:00am – Breakfast and Rude Mechanical Orchestra
9:30am – Program begins at War II Memorial in Battery Park
10:30am – Mass non-violent direct action trainings
11:30am – March to the Financial District begins
12:00pm – Sit-in in Financial District

#FloodWallStreet is a response to the Climate Justice Alliance’s call for non-violent direct action.

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Auxiliary Events

The full schedule of events following The People’s Climate March is available at: http://www.beyondthemarch.org/

Photos

High resolution images available for use.

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