Furious commuters were seen tearing banners away from climate activists blocking traffic in the middle of rush hour in Washington, DC, in the latest showdown between eco-warriors and everyday drivers.
Angry motorists climbed out of their cars to shout at members of anti-fossil fuel group Declare Emergency who blocked the busy road in the city on Saturday morning.
‘I want to work, I want to go to work,’ one man was heard saying as he yanked their banners from their hands.
‘You don’t give a f***, get the f*** out of here! We have to go to f***ing work,’ another woman was heard yelling at the protestors’ faces.
‘We got kids to feed, b—h,’ she fumed.
The protest was quickly dispersed as Metropolitan police quickly arrived and gave warnings, causing the protestors to leave. As they stood, officers announced they were all under arrest.
It is the latest example of conflicts between eco-protestors and the public, with the footage coming at the same time shocking footage in Nevada showed police plowing into protestors outside the Burning Man festival entrance.
Several people climbed out of their cars to shout at members of anti-fossil fuel group Declare Emergency, pictured here on a busy Washington, DC, highway on Saturday
‘You don’t give a f***, get the f*** out of here! We have to go to f***ing work,’ another woman was heard yelling
‘I want to work, I want to go to work,’ one man was heard saying as he proceeded to yank their banners from their hands
While protestors are normally given three warnings before they are arrested, DC cops simply gave one, with one officer shouting at them: ‘You’re not getting three warnings.’
The names and exact charges of the protestors has not been revealed.
When police gave the warnings, several protestors stood up and were immediately told they were under arrest. The cops then led the protestors to the side of the road – including helping and older-age protestor sit down.
One of the protestors complained about not receiving three warnings, and an office said they weren’t required to issue multiple orders to leave.
Officers cuffed the protestors and led them away, allowing traffic to slowly move through the once-blocked road after the protest caused backups.
The protest group said on Monday in a Tweet: ‘For us, this was a great way to honor the legacy of Dr. [Martin Luther] King and to carry on his tradition of disruptive, nonviolent civil disobedience!’
Declare Emergency says on its website that getting arrested is an ‘important’ part of their work.
‘Mass arrest is an important strategy of historical nonviolence movements that demanded system change from their governments,’ Declare Emergency said on its website
The furious commuters shouted at the protestors, who claimed to be doing a public service
‘Mass arrest is an important strategy of historical nonviolence movements that demanded system change from their governments,’ Declare Emergency said on its website.
‘[E]very time the state imprisons us for nonviolently demanding a livable future, we win a moral battle.
‘The more the state oppresses those asking for the right to live in a sustainable world, the less tenable its moral stance becomes in the eyes of the greater public.’
MailOnline has contacted Declare Emergency and the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia for official comments on the protest.
‘The more the state oppresses those asking for the right to live in a sustainable world, the less tenable its moral stance becomes in the eyes of the greater public,’ Declare Emergency said on its website
The protestors were arrested by DC cops, who said they were in ‘contempt of court’
The fury at the DC protestors came shortly before rangers smashed through a climate protest blocking the road to the Burning Man festival in Nevada.
Video footage revealed six demonstrators from climate activism groups Seven Circles and Extinction Rebellion clogging up the road with a trailer and locking themselves to it.
The demonstration caused huge backlogs, with cars stuck in gridlock for miles.
Cops from Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Police Department were seen plowing straight through the blockade, before arresting the protestors.
One officer got out of the vehicle and ordered a woman to the floor at gunpoint before telling her to ‘stop resisting’ arrest.
The demonstrators locked themselves onto the trailer and appeared to clash with those trying to attend the Burning Man festival before police were called
A Tribal Rangers truck smashed through the demonstrators blockade, destroying several of the signs
The eco-zealots shrieked in horror and some sobbed saying ‘we’re non-violent’ as they were hauled away.
Footage posted online shows one man telling activists that they were on ‘public property’ and had to ‘move the f***ing mess’.
Activists then tell him to call the authorities if they want them to move, as another assured him he’s ‘going to eventually get’ to Burning Man.
One woman can be seen chaining herself to the trailer as one of the protesters gets in another man’s face, saying: ‘This is a democracy, we have a right to protest.’
She tells the protester to ‘lock in and shut up’ like she did, but he continues to berate the angry driver saying: ‘Every change in society came from civil disobedience, all of them.’
Rangers from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Police Department of Nevada drove straight through the blockade and quickly began arresting demonstrators on the road
Protestor’s said they were also against ‘the popularization of Burning Man among affluent people who do not live the stated values of Burning Man, resulting in the commodification of the event’
Many activists clashed with those trying to pass through, or get to the Burning Man festival by road
Many irate drivers then try to move the trailer themselves, as the female protestor screams that they’re hurting her – as someone says it was a ‘dumba** move’.
Another can be heard asking a protestors ‘who has the gun’, as the protestors say ‘we have no weapons at all, we’re environmental protestors’.
Guardian journalist Michelle Hooq claimed on social media the Rangers attended the protest after receiving a call ‘someone in the crowd was going to shoot the activists’.
One ranger could be heard saying that the protestors were ‘trespassing on tribal land’, before several were arrested and taken into custody.
Photos from the protest show an XR banner that says ‘Ban Private Jets’, as well as other signs which say ‘Burners of the world unite’, and ‘abolish capitalism’.