WASHINGTON — Hundreds of protesters marched to the White House on Monday, calling for President Biden to divest from fossil fuels and declare a national climate emergency.
Participants paraded from Freedom Plaza to the White House, where leaders and members of indigenous tribes addressed a crowd of activists from across the country. The event took place on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a rebranding of Columbus Day, and recognized the work of indigenous people fighting fossil fuel extraction across the country.
The event follows the Oct. 1 opening of Line 3, a tar-sands pipeline expansion project that — at full capacity — carries 760,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada to Wisconsin. Opponents of the project claim the pipeline runs through treaty-protected tribal land. The Biden administration did not act to stop the federal permit that allowed the pipeline.
The event kicked off a week of climate change protests that will culminate in a march to the Capitol on Friday.
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