by Hank Berrien
On Monday, hundreds of members of the radical environmental group Extinction Rebellion arrived in New York City’s Financial District where some of them targeted Wall Street’s Charging Bull statue and poured fake blood all over it.
Dozens arrested after they ‘gored’ Charging Bull statue during climate protest https://t.co/61KqC3rTQKpic.twitter.com/h3EezpnfWM
— New York Post (@nypost) October 7, 2019
Extinction Rebellion has used fake blood frequently to dramatize their frenzy over climate change; in Manhattan, many of the protesters poured fake blood on themselves and lay in the street for a “die-in.”
Justin Becker, an organizer of the New York protest, stated that Wall Street was targeted because it has ties to the fossil fuel industry, adding, “A lot of blood has been spilled by the decisions of the powerful and the status quo and the toxic system that we live in.” An Extinction Rebellion spokesman added, “There will be broad disruption of business as usual. Frankly we don’t have time to wait for an opportune moment. Climate breakdown is under way and we can’t afford to wait.” 26 people were arrested on Monday.
Arturo Di Modica, the creator of “Charging Bull,” installed it in 1989. He donated the “Charging Bull” statue to New York City in 1989 after he spent $350,000 of his own money to cast the 7,100 lb. bronze bull. He placed it in front of the New York Stock Exchange in December 1989 to comfort Americans after the stock market crash in 1987. Di Modica told MarketWatch: “My bull is a symbol for America. My bull is a symbol of prosperity and for strength.”
Meanwhile, in London, police arrested 276 people, many of whom blocked bridges and roads or glued themselves to cars. The Daily Mail reported, “In Amsterdam, more than 100 people were arrested for blocking the street in front of the Netherlands’ national museum. Meanwhile, nearly 4,000 protesters in Berlin halted traffic at the Victory Column roundabout. Another group of about 300 protesters blocked Potsdamer Platz in the German capital by placing couches, tables, chairs and flower pots in the road.”
Extinction Rebellion’s website states:
Our current systems of governance are compromised by a focus on profits and economic growth. Politicians can be influenced by lobbies of powerful corporations and the media are hampered by vested interest of corporate advertisers undermining our democratic values. We have run out of the luxury of time to react incrementally. We must radically and immediately begin reducing emissions and improving carbon absorption, drawing it down and locking it up again. We must also put a stop to the industries devastating marine and terrestrial habitats in recognition that biodiversity is essential for all life to persist.
Only a peaceful planet-wide mobilization of the scale of World War II will give us a chance to avoid the worst case scenarios and restore a safe climate.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff, Helge Braun, told ZDF television, “We all share an interest in climate protection, and the Paris climate targets are our standard in this. If you demonstrate against or for that, that is okay. But if you announce dangerous interventions in road traffic or things like this, of course that is just not on.”
