Four people with their wrists chained to thick metal tubes blockaded the entrance of the Copley Square Bank of America to rally for climate justice before being removed by Boston police yesterday.
They were part of a group of about 30 people who protested what they described as the bank’s funding of coal-mining companies for two hours before police broke up the demonstration. The protest was part of organization’s Rising Tide North America, Energy Action Coalition and the Rainforest Action Network’s Fossil Fools Day of Action — an international effort to “call for community-based solutions to climate change,” according to a group press release.
No demonstrators were hurt but police had to unwrap duct tape and used electric saws to cut through the metal tubes and chains that bound the demonstrators to the bank door.
Protesters carried a large banner reading “Funding coal, killing communities” in red and blue, mimicking the bank’s logo, while others chanted: “Bank of America, this is a warning, stop funding global warming.”
Boston Police Sgt. Therese Kozmiski, who was searching the four protesters blockading the door, declined to comment on what she was looking for and police’s official plan.
Bank of America has allegedly supplied more than $144 billion to companies known for mountaintop removal coal mining and other violations, said Colleen Cronin, spokeswoman for the group of demonstrators.
Cronin said Bank of America’s environmental initiative was started last year and contributes only 0.2 percent of its yearly assets to support sustainable businesses and address climate change. In 2006, Bank of America spent 100 times more money on “dirty” energy than on clean energy, she said.
Demonstrators had not tried to contact Bank of America before yesterday’s protest, Cronin said, but said previous attempts were met with indifference — the bank claimed it could not change while the demand for coal existed.
Passerby Marcus Shay said he was intrigued by the demonstration and decided to join the cause in costume. He wore a mask of President George W. Bush and imitated what he said were the pro-oil politics of the current administration.
“I fight for our oil, our right to energy, my buddies in the oil industry,” he said. “I have a choice of where our funds are going to be invested . . . not in hybrid vehicles or electric cars.”
Alysha Suley, a demonstrator and Berklee College student, said students can make a difference by switching to a local bank they know is not funding corporate operations like coal mining.
“Big money like this has to be dirty money,” she said.
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