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Moment furious commuters rip banners away from climate activists blocking roads in angry rush-hour


Angry American motorists fumed, tore banners away and screamed at activists blocking Washington, DC, traffic last week in the latest showdown between eco-warriors and drivers.

The anti-fossil fuel group Declare Emergency sat in the middle of a highway on Saturday preventing any movement. That caused motorists to get out of the car and ripped banners from the protestors' hands.


'I want to work, I want to go to work,' one driver screamed.


'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.'


More protestors joined the drivers to chastise the drivers and throw their signs toward the side - a stark difference from other places in the world where those who object to protest can face criminal charges.


DC police arrived to push back the angry motorists and give the Declare Emergency protestors a warning to move. The activists quickly stood up, at which point police arrested them all.

The confrontation comes at the same time a similar protest at Nevada's Burning Man festival led cops to drive a truck into protestors who blocked the road to the event's entrance.


The latest DC protest happened in the middle of a sunny day and caused backups on both sides of the highway because of the scene.


When police arrived, an officer gave them one warning to disperse and shouted at them, 'you're not getting three warnings.' In other protests, authorities have issued multiple commands before removing participants.


It's unclear how long it took for police to arrive at the scene. DailyMail.com has reached out to officials for comment.


When police gave the warning, several protestors stood up and were immediately told they were under arrest. An officer recognized someone from a similar protest last week and told that person they were under arrest for contempt of court.


The protestors' removal led to cheers from motorists who returned to their cars.

Officers led the activists to the side of the road - helping the elderly and an older protestor who had trouble walking.


One protestor complained about not receiving three warnings, and an officer said they are not required to give multiple commands.


Authorities put zip-tie handcuffs around the protestors and they were taken from the scene in police vehicles.


The names and exact charges of the protestors has not been revealed.


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.


'[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.'




It isn't the first time in recent weeks that Declare Emergency caused havoc in DC. In April, members of the group blocked traffic at the capital's Third Street Tunnel.


According to WTOP, six protestors entered the crosswalk and sat on the payment leading to a bevy of horns and angry commuters.


In that protest, protestors blocked traffic for about a half-an-hour. Motorists again expressed frustration with the protestors for delaying their commutes with some angrily confronting the face-to-face.


“I get y’all’s protest, but we’ve got kids on the school bus who need to get to school,” one of the drivers said.


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 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.'


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'.


The American reaction to the environmental protests, where anger and physical confrontations happened, is in stark contrast to much of the world.


In Europe, people who confront or try to disperse protesters or those blocking roads can face criminal charges.


In 2019, Mark Field, a minister in the British Foreign Office, was suspended from his role when he grabbed a Greenpeace activist who interrupted a black-tie dinner.


Footage showed Field grabbing the protestor by the neck and ushering out of the room, according to the Washington Post. Field later apologized for the incident, but noted that his actions were out of perceived danger.

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