Over 300 Greenpeace activists chained themselves together in front of the European Union headquarters today to demand that the EU council help pay for a climate change fund for poor countries in the United Nations.
“Finance ministers are giving billions of taxpayers’ money to failed banks, but we’re here to make sure they also put money on the table to tackle climate change,” Thomas Henningsen of Greenpeace International. “If the planet were a bank they would bail it out.”
Activists worry that wealthy countries will not meet the requests of poor countries in the UN when framing a new global plan to combat climate change. Poor countries believe that the wealthy, industrialized countries are responsible for climate change, so they should have to foot the bill. Greenpeace wants Europe to give over $44 billion a year to poor countries, according to Reuters.
Nearly all of protesters were arrested in a dramatic stand-off with riot police. Of course, some activists tweeted throughout the ordeal: make sure to read @ecotist and @Greenpeace_Int for their first-hand accounts on the ground.
Greenpeace says three activists are in the hospital due to police brutality. More photos of the action are available here.
Photo courtesy of Greenpeace
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Alex Felsinger
Alex is primarily concerned with animal welfare, wildlife conservation, and environmental justice. As a freelance writer in San Francisco, he leads a deliberately simplistic and thrifty lifestyle, yet still can’t help gawking at the newest green gadgets and zero-emission concept cars.
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Update: now 5 activists in the hospital according to @ecotist.
-Michael