14 DAY TRIAL // This past Sunday, over 1,200 youth marched to the White House and staged a protest against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
The protest was organized just as President Barack Obama is getting ready to announce his final decision concerning this controversial project.
Media reports say that the young people who took part in the march and then gathered in front of the White House were representatives of over 50 colleges and universities in the United States.
The march started at the Georgetown University. On their way to the White House, the youth made a short stop at residence of Secretary John Kerry.
The students urged John Kerry to step in and try and convince President Obama not to give the thumbs up to the Keystone XL project.
“If the Democratic Party wants to keep our vote, they better make sure President Obama rejects that pipeline,” Nick Stracco, a 23-year-old student at Tulane University in New Orleans, told the press, as cited by RT.
After arriving at the White House, the protesters reportedly strapped themselves to the fence around it, and voiced their complaints against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
Thus, they demanded “climate justice now,” and held up banners asking the United States President not to “tarnish the Earth.”
According to Eco Watch, this past Sunday's protest at the White House was the largest act of civil disobedience involving mostly youth to have taken place in the country in a generation.
“As the fight to stop KXL enters its final stages, it's truly inspiring to see young people at the forefront,” Bill McKibben, founder of green group 350.org, commented on the protest.
“This pipeline is scheduled to last 40 years – right through the prime of their lives. President Obama needs to look them in the face,” he further stressed.
Despite the fact that the protest was a non-violent one, it would appear that about 400 of the people taking part in it were taken in police custody.
By the looks of it, officers were already present at the White House at the time when the youth arrived, and warned them that blocking the sidewalk and strapping themselves to the fence would lead to their arrest.
The students chose to ignore these warnings, hence the fact that many of them were forcefully removed from the scene by police officers.
This protest follows the release of a report saying that the Keystone XL pipeline in itself is bound to have a minimal environmental impact, simply because tar sands will be exploited with or without it.
“It's unlikely for one pipeline to change the overall development of the oil sands,” an official with the State Department said at the time when the report was released.
Furthermore, “Climate changes are anticipated to occur regardless of any potential effects from the proposed project.”