BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH | A total of 62 protesters calling on the city to declare a state of climate emergency were arrested on Wednesday outside of City Hall.
The protest was organized by Extinction Rebellion, which was founded last year and has been taking part in daily demonstrations as part of its “Week of Rebellion.”
According to CNN, Extinction Rebellion members have been glueing themselves to a train and blocking major traffic arteries in London for the last three days to raise awareness about what they call “disastrous inaction” on climate change.
“It started out really mellow, really sweet, really nonviolent,” said Sue Brisk, a photographer who documented the group’s New York chapter’s demonstration yesterday.
The rally began early in the morning with chanting, sidewalk chalking and a band. Eventually, some protesters gathered on Centre St. and staged a symbolic die-in. Two others climbed light poles in order to hang a sign that read, “Declare Climate Emergency,” with the group’s logo on it.
It was shortly after this when the arrests started happening.
“It was very orchestrated and very cautious, so that nobody got hurt,” Brisk said of the protest. Extinction Rebellion is a staunch believer in nonviolent demonstrations.
An New York Police Department spokesperson told Gothamist that 60 protesters were charged with disorderly conduct and two with reckless endangerment.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report last year that stated if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, the atmosphere would warm up by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit by 2040, causing coastal flooding and intensifying droughts.
The report also warns that carbon-dioxide emissions must decrease by about 45 percent from 2010 by 2030 and reach “net zero” by 2050 in order to avoid catastrophic climate change.
Extinction Rebellion will be having other events this week.
