Over one dozen environmental activists superglued themselves to doors in a Capitol Hill office building on Tuesday evening, in a bid to pressure members of Congress to enact a proclamation of a global climate emergency.
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The D.C. chapter of Extinction Rebellion, which often preaches direct action in order to combat what it sees as an effort to obscure truth about climate change from the public, risked arrest in support of a non-binding resolution that would have the U.S. join cities and countries worldwide in recognizing the urgency of climate change and its impact on human populations.
On July 9, a non-binding resolution for a climate emergency at the federal level was introduced by Democratic members of Congress including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
But following two weeks with no movement on the resolution in either house of Congress, Extinction Rebellion DC opted to activate its plan for escalation and follow in the footsteps of its sister chapters in the United Kingdom: "Disrupt Congress like it's never been disrupted before."
Sixteen of Extinction Rebellion's protesters descended into the Cannon and Rayburn house office buildings willing to risk arrest, according to Kaela Bamberger, a core organizer. Using superglue to stick their hands to the walls and form a human chain, they blocked both ends of an underground tunnel leading into the U.S. Capitol.
After clearing media and other protesters out of view, police requested a solvent be brought in to safely decouple the activists over the course of the next two hours.
It was unclear if all the 16 who intended to be arrest were in fact detained. Several other organizers counted around a dozen activists being led away by Capitol police. The nature of their charges was unclear.
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