Activists with Greenpeace on Wednesday brought a massive “resist” banner to a construction site in Washington, D.C., to protest President Trump’s actions promoting oil pipelines.
Protesters started scaling a 270-foot tower crane at a downtown construction site Wednesday morning and unfurled the banner once they reached the top.
Greenpeace’s intent is for the 70-foot-by-35-foot banner to be visible from the White House, a few blocks south of the building site, said spokeswoman Cassady Craighill.
{mosads}The group is protesting Trump’s order yesterday to revive the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, after former President Obama rejected Keystone and delayed final federal approval for Dakota Access.
“People in this country are ready to resist and rise up in ways they have never done before,” Karen Topakian, chairwoman of Greenpeace’s board, said in a statement.
“While Trump’s disdain and disrespect for our democratic institutions scare me, I am so inspired by the multigenerational movement of progress that is growing in every state,” she said. “Greenpeace has used nonviolence to resist tyrannical bullies since 1971, and we’re not going to stop now.”
The move follows large protests Tuesday against Trump’s pipeline decisions in front of the White House and in other major cities.
Greenpeace is known internationally for high-risk protests such as boarding oil drilling ships.
The Metropolitan Police Department tweeted Wednesday morning that the protest is “extremely dangerous and unlawful.” It has closed streets near the site during the protest.
The site at 15th and L streets Northwest housed the headquarters of The Washington Post until 2015. A new building is under construction.
— This story was updated at 10:11 a.m.