Over 1,000 Arrested While Protesting Keystone XL Pipeline (at White House)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Food And Water Watch / Alternet

Over 1,000 Arrested While Protesting the Keystone XL Pipeline

By Sarah Alexander | Sourced from Food and Water Watch
Posted at September 2, 2011, 4:55 pm

One of the largest acts of civil disobediencein the environmental movement is underway as over 1,000 people have been arrested in front of the White House while gathering to oppose the Keystone XL Pipeline. The pipeline, which will extend from the Athabasca tar sands of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, is a threat to our environment and threatens the drinking water of millions of people in its path.

The pipeline is especially threatening because it will run from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada through the Ogallala aquifer—one of the world’s largest supplies of fresh water—as well as major rivers that supply substantial agricultural water to farmers and drinking water to millions of Americans.

The project got the attention of Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, who found the issue critical enough to write a letter to President Obama saying that he didn’t want the pipeline coming through his state.

Food & Water Watch’s Board President and international water activist Maude Barlow has been instrumental in the movement against the Keystone XL pipeline. She’s been fighting to oppose it because of the disasters it’s already caused in Canada, and the disasters waiting to happen if it’s built in the U.S. She has joined with other key movement leaders and scientists, including Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein, James Hansen and David Suzuki to call for direct action to stop this pipeline, which Bill McKibben calls the “biggest carbon bomb on the continent.”

Read more: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/660627/over_1%2C000_arrested_while_protesting_the_keystone_xl_pipeline

---

http://www.tarsandsaction.org/

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/01/140117187/for-protesters-keystone-pipeline-is-line-in-tar-sand

For Protesters, Keystone Pipeline Is Line In Tar Sand
by RICHARD HARRIS

U.S. Park Police officers arrest demonstrators in front of the While House on Thursday. They were protesting against a proposed 1,700-mile-long pipeline that would carry oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

September 1, 2011

Dozens of environmental activists showed up in front of the White House Thursday to get arrested in a peaceful protest against a proposed oil pipeline that would cut across the American Midwest.

Organizers said that over the past 10 days, about 800 people have been handcuffed and bused off to a police station in this ongoing action.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. the numbers are growing. Good!!!!

[radhika]

2. If we can get 2 Tea Baggers ...

to show up in costume and COUNTER-PROTEST them, that would guarantee 24/7 coverage on right wing national media.

PSST: I think I'm dropping a hint to some merry progressive pranksters in the DC area:)

[russspeakeasy]

3. Just get a stupid hat with a tea bag stapled to it and

Wolf Blitzer will do 10 minutes on it...:woohoo:

[SteveM]

41. Ha! Good one. nt

[sabrina 1]

42. Lol, good idea! n/t

[me b zola]

18. Set up a port-a-potti

they will come

[freedom fighter jh]

30. Your hint has been taken, sort of, almost . . .

I was there on Tuesday, 9/23. Folks were sitting in front of the White House fence, waiting to get arrested. I was with the crowd on the sidewalk across the street. Someone near me started shouting "Drill, baby, drill."

People jumped all over the guy.

But he wasn't dressed up; it was more like he stayed under cover until he was ready to start shouting. And there was only one of him.

So of course we did not get much MSM coverage.

[FarCenter]

4. This should ensure cheap oil in the MidWest

One section from Alberta to Cushing, OK is already built. This has flooded the Cushing exchange with crude and the West Texas Intermedidiate price at Cushing is about $20 / barrel less that the world crude price as measured by Brent and other exchanges.

If the pipeline is extended from Cushing to the Gulf, the glut in Cushing will be relieved and the Candians will get world prices for their oil. The US midwest will lose the advantage of abnormally cheap Canadian tar sands oil.

[MessiahRp]

13. I paid $3.88/gall. today in MI. Not sure where this "abnormally cheap" nonsense is coming from.

nt

[RoccoR5955]

70. That's the illusion that the oil companies want you to believe...

When in fact, this oil, as ANY oil, will be put on the WORLD market, where the prices are controlled by the OPEC cartel, and those who speculate in oil.

[chill_wind]

5. That's a lot of arrests!

I wonder what the record was for antiwar protests over any similar period of days under junior.
(Were there any WH sidewalk war protests that lasted that many straight days? Can anyone remember?)

[Shining Jack]

20. That's the first think that crossed my mind when...

I read the OP.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. Huh? in the second citing, it says "dozens

of environmental activists showed up". Dozens? And "about 800 people" arrested? Way to downplay this in the first line of an article!!! Hopefully enough people can do math.

[MADem]

10. It's over the course of ten days--a hundred a day, or so. NT

[QC]

7. So hopeful! n/t

[Historic NY]

8. No one is noticing its not on FoX yet.

[MADem]

9. Over the course of ten days? That's only a hundred a day on average.

That's not busting the cells or even taxing the administrative capacity of the Park Police. I wonder if some of them are repeat performances.

This is by no means a done deal.

It might not be a bad idea to target the state governors--all politics is local, after all. From the above-cited NPR link:

At issue is a proposed pipeline that would connect oil resources in Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Texas coast. The 1,700-mile long Keystone XL, as it's called, would help our friendly northern neighbor expand development in one of the largest, but dirtiest, sources of oil on the planet. It's bound up in hardened formations called tar sands, and it's not easy to extract.

The State Department has issued an environmental review giving the transnational Keystone pipeline a green light. Some state governors and high-profile climate scientists say building the pipeline would be a mistake.

The Obama administration says it will decide by the end of the year whether to approve this pipeline. And environmental groups are making that decision a test of the administration's resolve to move away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner sources of energy.

[Divernan]

54. O. to decide "by end of year" means Big Oil donates big through the election!

He's so good at keeping hope alive until he's made every last buck out of the corporations.

[chervilant]

60. Also,

he gets to avoid making this unpopular decision--to allow this pipeline--until after the election.

I call this a lie by omission...yet another reason Mr. Obama is losing my respect.

[MADem]

79. No, he doesn't--the elections are not until NEXT YEAR.

He will be making this decision by the end of this year...

[chervilant]

85. k

I stand corrected, if indeed he does 'make a decision' by the end of this year. Actually, I suspect this will be like the patronizing 'we must eat our peas' moment, and I still have very little respect left for this administration.

[MADem]

80. The election will still be eleven months away, in 11/12 nt

[chervilant]

59. Still

There is a measurable cost to taxpayers, either directly (if any of those arrested pay fines), or indirectly (as taxpayer dollars are used to finance whatever actions fines don't cover).

What are the protests netting from the White House?

****crickets*****?

[MADem]

81. Well, I don't think there's too much cost added; the Park Police have to work anyway

and if the people are fined/pay court costs, then it's all pretty much a wash.

The White House hasn't made a decision yet, per the article. I do understand that the point of the protests is to influence the White House, and perhaps raise public awareness, and that's fine.

I do think, though, if this group feels strongly about this issue, they should triangulate their efforts and ALSO exert pressure on the states where this pipeline will be built. Since there are several possible routes, that might take a little organization/planning, but I do think that if Obama is told by a ton of governors that this is a NIMBY effort, he may give it the thumbs-down.

Who wants a gaggle of governors pissed off at you with an election year coming up?

[chervilant]

84. Okay...

The people who might be fined ARE taxpayers, hence the direct cost. And, yes, the Capital Police 'have to work anyway,' but I'd bet taxpayers would prefer to pay those police officers to deter the types of 'criminals' who represent a real threat to others.

As far as additional protests: we (living now in exponential times) are witnessing the inception of a burgeoning social movement. This one event will inevitably dovetail into the October 6 Freedom Plaza event (hope you'll be there). Who knows where our activism will grow as we work to stop the Corporate Megalomaniacs who've usurped our media, our government, and our global economy.

[MADem]

86. I think you are failing to grasp the purpose of the protest, though

If the protesters protested, and no one got arrested, the media would not cover it and the group would not get any publicity. The idea behind 'civil disobedience' is to disobey, to make a stink, to cause trouble, to garner notice.

There are people who have been protesting for years, permanently. They're homeless and a bit odd, some of them. The Park Police ignore them, pretty much. They only give the Three Warnings to large groups that are difficult to manage in terms of security. In the case of the WH, it really is a security issue--it is not all that large an area relative to the density of the population, and when you add in a load of commotion and milling about, well, if someone wanted to do some evil, that's pretty decent cover to try.

I'll be in FL in Oct; and maybe TX, depending on circumstances. I used to do that kind of thing when I was young, but not in recent decades. I don't particularly care for those Mixed Message protests they've had in the past few years, where there's one cause you can get behind and a bunch of others you want no part of--so I don't lend my marching feet to those kinds of things.

[XemaSab]

11. So why were they arrested?

Since when is it illegal to protest in this country?

[valerief]

12. Since the misnamed Patriot Act. nt

[awoke_in_2003]

50. goes back further than that, IMO...

if you have to get a permit to assemble, which you have had to do for years, it is no longer a right.

[defendandprotect]

72. Excellent point -- and now there are those "free speech zones" at political convention

sites which look more like cages for criminals -- !!

Why are we allowing this -- ???

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. LET FREEDOM RING!

:silly:

[Jim_Shorts]

17. Thats a really good question

It seems they are citing a federal regulation against actions that cause a threat to public safety, obstruct traffic, and potentially prevent emergency responders from carrying out their work.

But I think it's actually more like Judge Dredd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itmNiTwHOsM

[freedom fighter jh]

31. They are choosing to be arrested.

Technically I think the charge is failure to obey a police officer, or something like that.

The organizers make sure all the protestors know the drill. The group lines up in front of the White House fence and they sit down. Three times the police ask them to leave. Those who do not choose to be arrested leave after the second warning.

Watching the scene play out left me with the feeling that the police were trapped into playing the protestors' game.

Everything was orderly and civil. From what I could see from across the street, the police were about as polite as they could be under the circumstances and the protestors were pretty cheerful about being arrested.

[Hissyspit]

34. Similar thong was done during later anti-War rallies during Bush administration.

People crossed a barrier and then were arrested one by one

[Hissyspit]

68. "thing"

[Cal Carpenter]

83. Yep. The charge was, technically, demonstrating without a permit.

Of course, you can't get a permit for protesting on that sidewalk anyway.

There were about 400 people arrested in one day in an anti-war protest in Sept 2005. I was one of them. It was on the Monday after a huge Saturday march.

Similar to this situation, the protesters knew what was going to happen - the organizers made sure everyone was aware that the 'point of no return' would happen and each person had to make a conscious choice to be on one side of the barrier or the other when that time came.

[Jim_Shorts]

36. Your right, "the police were trapped into playing the protestors GAME"

Please excuse me while I go gag.

Good job at not having any sense at all of world around you.

[freedom fighter jh]

64. Please explain

What are you talking about?

BTW, here's a suggestion: Invest in a dictionary.

[Jim_Shorts]

69. The protesters are not playing a "game"

They are trying to send a message to an increasingly deaf president about a very important issue.

We still have the right to protest in this country the last I checked but that right is slowly being taken away, so the last thing that would cross my mind, watching my fellow citizens going to jail, would be feeling sorry for the cops.

BTW, When I was using the word "protestors" I was quoting you.

[XemaSab]

47. So why don't the police just leave them alone?

:shrug:

[awoke_in_2003]

51. "failure to obey a police officer"...

are we all sheep that must obey authority?

[Tesha]

55. The point isn't really to arrest them on any charges that will stick.

The points are 1) to get them off the streets and out
of view as quickly as possible and 2) be a pain-in-the-
ass to the protesters in the hopes of discouraging them
and discouraging future protesters.

This is Standard Operating Procedure when the government
is facing protests.

This would stop if enough people sued the police for
false arrest, but that's unlikely to happen.

Tesha

[MADem]

82. I think it is the "public v. federal property" thing at play, but I am not positive.

The protesters get three warnings and then are arrested.

It's not a bad thing, though, because if there were no arrests (of many famous people, too, including celebrities and environmentalists) there would be no publicity. The whole idea of "civil disobedience" is to do some 'disobeying.' It's the disobeying that gets the news people there, to cover the arrests.

These folks have some of the background: http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2011/08/21/us-park-police-seek-to-intimidate-oil-pipeline-protesters/

[SoapBox]

15. Arresting the citizens whilst the GOPBaggers continue to Rape and Pillage America.

...typical.

This country has some screwed up priorities.

[blkmusclmachine]

16. Teabaggers are never arrested.

Notice that?

[goforit]

27. by who? tinfoil hat.

[tblue]

56. No. They bring guns and racist signs and it's all cool.

It's upside down. Really.

[chervilant]

61. Yeah...

I'd like to see what would happen if one of THESE protesters carried an assault rifle to this protest! I'm guessing that would be all over FOX, and not in a good way.

[Lorien]

19. Keep it going protestors!

This MUST stay in the news! :yourock:

[Shining Jack]

21. K&R n/t

[No Elephants]

22. Changealicious

[goforit]

28. HOPE..... in action

[LostinNY]

23. Why does Canada back this? N/T

[Dragonfli]

24. Harper /nt

[goforit]

25. Hilarious! The lying sack of shit WH gets their karma.

[Vinca]

26. It's a shame the corporate media is ignoring it.

Maybe we could pay 5 teabaggers to show up.

[RKP5637]

29. K&R!!!

:yourock:

[xchrom]

32. recommend

[JJW]

33. Corporate owned propaganda

They gave us 24/7/365 coverage of the Quitter/Grifter from Alaska. And notta, zilch, big pie whole, on this unneeded, costly, and world ending project. Tar sands, ethanol, and frac'ing natural gas, are like putting global warming on steroids. All for short term profits of criminals on Wall St.

[newspeak]

35. this is very serious

we can't drink oil. We're talking about one of the largest fresh water aquifers and the mississippi. We have these teabagging, libertarian arseholes yelling deregulation and greedheads who could give a shite if we had another major oil spill--the only thing they would care about is if they had to pay for the clean up. Most could care less who or what they are contaminating. Again, look what they've done in Nigeria. They don't care who they harm or if they contaminate a major water source. I think, to them, it would be a major opportunity to start selling the plebes water for more profit.

[chervilant]

62. Well...

you see how much coverage the renewed oil seepage in the Gulf is garnering from FOX and friends...

[Uncle Joe]

37. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.

[ZombieHorde]

38. Wow, Washington DC must have really low crime rates if this is best use of their

police force.

Any other case those cops could be working on would benefit the public less than this case; right? No new missing children, no new murders, no new arson cases, no new rapes, no new burglaries, nothing but peaceful protesters.

Of course I am mocking our government's priorities.

[defendandprotect]

74. Remember Clinton's time in White House when just about anyone could get to WH with a gun?

And shoot into the White House --

or the time when the pilot flew his private plane almost into Clitnon's

bedroom? Of course, it's the most heavily protected air space in the world,

but seems when someone wants a plane to get thru to Pentagon or White House

it can be done!!



:evilgrin:


:hi:

[BetsysGhost]

39. Seriously? goes way further than the headline

if they are willing to arrest 1000 people in front of the White House, the symbol for freedom, liberty, justice and all those other beautiful things that used to be America...
do you really believe anyone can make a difference ANYMORE?

The robber barons and the torture enablers, the powers that cover up the most heinous of crimes - murder on a massive scale,
have completely and totally taken your lives from you and your childrens lives as well.

1000 peaceful people who want to be heard. I CAN HEAR YOU!

[awoke_in_2003]

53. "do you really believe anyone can make a difference ANYMORE?"

no, I stopped believing that not long ago. Welcome to DU :hi:

[defendandprotect]

75. Sadly ... may have to agree with you ... however ....

I think it depends upon what the public actually knows about what's going on --

Global Warming, for instance --

If they understood that these droughts/floods will be increasing and even more severe

and the truth about Global Warming I think we'd get somewhere instantly --

that's why the RW has invested so much $$ in denying Global Warming.


Because we had a gap in feeling the effects of Global Warming -- though the glaciers began

melting in 1940's -- we are only now beginning to feel the effects of Global Warming from

about 1960 onward. Imagine all we did after that time.


Glacier melting -- ice blocks the size of Rhode Island and Manhattan are falling -- are

shifting the ice/water pressure on the tectonic plates which will bring increasing earthquakes

and increasing severity of earthquakes.


Earthquakes in turn generate new volcanic activity.


The government in Fukushima had wanted to shut down the nuclear plants there based on

Japanese scientists warnings of increasing seismic activity -- and because the plants were

only built to withstand less severe earthquakes -- 7, I think. Unfortunately this wasn't

done -- W Bush had sent a team to Fukushima to stop the government/people's actions.

Imagine how much better off the world would have been had the Japanese been able to follow

through.


So it's urgent to keep on trying to effect these outcomes -- imo, to get our own 103/106

nuclear power plants here shut down. Evidently it takes something like 6 months to propeerly

shut down these individual reactors and not sure if that includes WASTE disposal?

This could, perhaps, make the difference between "a whimper or a bang" -- !!

[rhett o rick]

40. R&K

[xxqqqzme]

43. If I was on the east coast, I

would be there. I am so opposed to this disaster waiting to happen. After Obama's ozone reconsideration nonsense speak yesterday though, I'm not hopeful.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

44. Thank goodness! Now those are what I call truly patriotic people!

Not the piece of shit Repukes who falsely Bible bang, and cheat the poor to give to the rich. Those are merely thugs, and are patriotic only in name.

[lovuian]

45. We arrested a thousand people

for a peaceful protest

this is absolute absurdity

[dana_b]

52. they're lucky

if a person protests the oil/gas industries using disruptive techniques, they can be sent to prison for years

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x616598

[jimlup]

46. I feel bad that I didn't make it there but at least I donated /nt

[alp227]

48. 2nd such front page story, this issue needs to be publicized widely n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

49. ...

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; OR THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO PEACEFULLY ASSEMBLE, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The first amendment has been dead a long time. When you have to ask permission to assemble, it is no longer a right but a privilege.

[Beartracks]

57. To that end, it's not a Congressional issue.

At least, I imagine it's probably municipal ordinances that determines the legalities of protesting.

Their RIGHT to protest has not been prohibited.

That said, I do think pushing the envelope to get themselves arrested should bring a lot more attention to the cause.

Hello, big media??

===============================

[FLAprogressive]

65. It absolutely is when you consider that DC's government is the sole responsibility of Congress.

[Beartracks]

71. It is?

Well, I didn't know that. Carry on.

=====================

[FLAprogressive]

78. DC's "self-government" exists at the pleasure of congress and can be overridden and/or dissolved

with a simple vote.

[MrMickeysMom]

58. Well, I hope to join the steady stream sometime in Oct

Just a birthday present to liberty, as I see it.

Kick the movement until we blow the DC budget. They won't be able to keep enough officers of the peace to keep the steady numbers of Americans who are responding to this call.

KICK THE MOVEMENT!

[libmom74]

63. Another segment of the Democratic base

finds a spot under the bus.

[sfpcjock]

66. I just watched 2 hours of CNN with the Wolfman and they did not even mention this.

Now I want those two hours of my life back. Very disappointed.

I know why, though: Exxon keeps millions dollars of Exxon and other big oil advertising on CNN constantly talking about how "clean" their fracking is going to be. The implied threat from Big Oil is that they will pull these constant gratuitous ads from CNN and all the other TV news networks.

[ClarkUSA]

67. SoS Hillary approves of the pipeline. President Obama has not come to a decision yet.

Those are the facts.

[JJW]

76. Who is Hillary's boss?

Yup, it's a done deal.

[boppers]

87. If Obama governed like that, maybe.

Of course, part of what infuriates the fuck out of people is that Obama doesn't work that way.

As much as Clinton was the first "black" president, Obama is the first "female" president. Clinton was "black" because he always wanted an ethnic minority view on his decisions, Obama is "female" because he doesn't just want majority+minority, he wants a discussion among all parties reaching towards consensus.

This pisses off pro-patriarchy democrats, who want a leader to be "strong", "not cave", and otherwise operate in a patriarchal model. Obama is not a silverback, an alpha, a patriarch.

[Union Scribe]

77. So you'd of course agree that the time to protest it is now.

Protests have two aims: influence actions and express disapproval.

[OwnedByFerrets]

73. These folks are PPs. Pure Patriots!