Hundreds of people on Sunday gathered in Los Angeles to protest against climate change and show support for activists demonstrating against the construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota.
Several Hollywood stars, including Mark Ruffalo and Susan Sarandon, were among the more than 800 people who attended a five-hour climate rally in MacArthur Park. Rallygoers carried signs urging to “shut it all down now” and chanted slogans like “water is life.”
“Not only is it an environmental, but it’s a problem in terms of social justice,” Sarandon told the rally. “We can do it. We can stop fracking. We can stop the pipeline. But really it’s only because of great numbers of people.”
Ruffalo accused US President Barack Obama of hypocrisy for allowing fracking and other fossil fuel extraction while presenting himself as a green president.
“President Obama, it is immoral for you to keep drilling in our state lands, in our federal lands, off our federal waters, while at the same time calling yourself a climate change leader,” he said.
Also among celebrity attendees was actress Shailene Woodley, who earlier this month was arrested in North Dakota while protesting the planned pipeline in an incident that was live-streamed on Facebook.
She was charged with criminal trespass and engaging in a riot, and was due in court yesterday.
In North Dakota on Saturday, more than 80 protesters were arrested after clashing with police near a pipeline construction site, according to the local sheriff’s department, which pepper sprayed demonstrators.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and environmental activists have been protesting construction of the 1,886km pipeline in North Dakota for several months, saying it threatens the water supply and sacred sites.
More than 220 people have been arrested since demonstrations began in August.
The pipeline, being built by a group of companies led by Energy Transfer Partners LP, would be the first to bring Bakken shale from North Dakota directly to refineries on the US Gulf Coast.
Supporters say the pipeline would provide a safer and more cost-effective way to transport Bakken shale to the US Gulf than by road or rail.
There were no reports of arrests at the Los Angeles rally, where demonstrators assembled into the evening decrying climate change, hydraulic fracturing and oil pipelines as a threat to the safety of future generations.
“I’d rather walk miles today to protest the building of the pipeline than have my children walk miles to get clean water in the future,” said Steffany Urrea, a 22-year-old college student.
Additional reporting by AFP
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was