Climate activists accusing Biden of 'ecocide' threaten CHAOS at White House Correspondents' dinner
A group of climate activists have threatened chaos at a dinner on Saturday evening in protest of President Biden's environmental policies. Climate Defiance issued a rallying cry on social media for others to join them in their attempt to blockade the White House Correspondents Association event. The youth-led group, which was set up in January, posted a video accusing Biden of committing 'ecocide' - a term used to describe the destruction of the environment by deliberate or negligent action. It has held a series of non-violent protests in preparation for the dinner including disrupting talks featuring White House climate advisers John Podesta and Ali Zaidi. Climate Defiance said it is not aiming for any protesters who join the cause to get arrested - but to gather enough people to make arrests 'impossible'. The video shared on Twitter highlighted Biden's approval of the Willow Project last month, which will allow ConocoPhillips to drill oil in northwestern Alaska. It could produce more than 600 million barrels of crude over 30 years which would release nearly 280 million metric tons of pollution into the atmosphere. The video also mentions the president's approval of expanded liquid natural gas exports in Alaska this month and his blessing for the countrys largest oil export terminal to be built in Texas, adding two million barrels of oil per day. And it shows Biden at a 2020 presidential debate calling for 'no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period,' on federal land. Alongside the video, it wrote: 'We are a brand-new movement of young people. 'We came of age amidst superstorms and fires and crumbling ice shelves. We trusted our President but he sold us out to fossil fuel CEOs. 'So we will rise. We will build the future we deserve. And we will be unstoppable.' Climate Defiance then issued a rallying cry and urged people to 'stand with us' as they look to blockade the White House Correspondents Association. Protesters were asked to meet at a metro station near the Washington Hilton hotel at 5.30pm where Biden is set to deliver remarks at the end of the annual dinner - and the group is expecting more than 100 attendees. The new climate activists group sees the event, which will be attended by Washington's political heavyweights, celebrities and journalists, as a way to shine a light on climate change and get Biden's attention. The group organized a car pool for the protest and activists are traveling from Chicago, Oberlin, Pittsburgh and Boston. Those who are interested in taking arrestable action were provided with legal training and the protesters will have a legal team, police liaisons, and de-escalation leads alongside them. It has fundraised for bail money in the event of arrests and activists will be sorted into three groups based on the level of risk they are willing to accept - red, yellow and green. We do not anticipate anyone will be charged with anything higher than a misdemeanor as long as they abide by our nonviolence agreement, the group told protesters. Rylee Haught, the recruitment lead for Climate Defiance, said the group is taking action to persuade Biden to act on climate change and get young voters on board for his reelection. If Biden wants to continue to see the youth support that he had when he got elected, he needs to keep his promises, especially around climate change, because young people know that it's an existential threat,' she told ABC News. We know we don't have time to wait. If he wants to keep young people voting, he better stop extraction on federal lands. Young people have the most to lose in this fight, we also have the most to give that's why we're shutting down the correspondents' dinner. Haught, from West Virginia, feels young activists are using the anguish from the pandemic and mass shootings to take action. Young people aren't just gonna sit around and wait for a future that's in pure chaos. We've already lived in a deadly pandemic, she said. She emphasized that protesters are putting their bodies on the line for everyone's future. Haught added: People are going to lose their lives. People are actively losing their lives to unprecedented wildfires and floods. Sorry if people feel inconvenienced, but they are going to suffer much more dire consequences if we don't take direct action right now. Beaei Pardo, Midwest outreach organizer for Climate Defiance, said: 'The biggest goal is to make President Biden keep his promise: no new drilling on federal lands. Hes broken that. 'If it happens that the event shuts down because we blockaded the event, then thats whats going to have to happen.' White House Correspondents Association President Tamara Keith said they were aware of the plans and 'security preparations are in place'. Police said they will continue to monitor and will plan accordingly with our federal law enforcement partners to ensure the safety of DC residents and visitors. The White House Correspondents' Association dinner has seen several protests in previous years including in 2016 when activists gathered outside to draw attention to the Syrian civil war. And in 2009, protest group Code Pink confronted former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and called for his arrest. Climate Defiance has been staging protests around Washington for most of this week in preparation for the high profile dinner. The group crashed the keynote address of White House Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi on Wednesday and started chanting: 'No more drilling, keep your promise.' It claimed he was unable to answer for his 'record of destruction' before he left through a back exit and they were escorted out of the building by security. And Climate Defiance shut down a keynote speech by John Podesta, a senior advisor to the president for clean energy innovation and implementation since September 2022, who was addressing a group on Tuesday. They unfurled a banner which read 'End fossil fuels' and chanted 'No more drilling, keep your promise' before singing until he left the stage. Another group called Declare Emergency blocked a part of George Washington Memorial Parkway on Wednesday causing heavy traffic around the capital. And their activists went to the National Gallery of Art on Thursday and smeared black and red paint over the case and pedestal of Edgar Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen sculpture. Climate Defiance said Biden is approving fossil fuel leasing permits at a faster rate than former president Trump and described them as a 'literal death sentence' for people. 'We can turn this all around. We can create a beautiful world. We can build the future we deserve. Its not too late,' it said. The four-month-old group which prides itself on the five values of mass participation, solidarity, community, peacefulness, initiative and brightness is currently seeking to hire a full-time organizing director to lead its grassroots efforts. It pays between $42,000 and $72,000 per year. In 2022 Biden helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act which is the most significant action Congress has taken on clean energy and climate change in US history.