Greenpeace's state dinner gatecrashers deliver climate message in Copenhagen.
They gave up their freedom to get a message out calling for action against climate. Don't let in be in vain. Please support our new campaign to keep the pressure on world leaders for a real climate deal in 2010.
Three of the Heroes from Norway, Spain and Switzerland were arrested after entering the banquet for world leaders, hosted by the Danish Queen Margrethe II. Two of them were dressed as a 'Head of State' and his 'wife', the third their security detail. They held up banners that read "Politicians Talk, Leaders Act" and were led away by police. Danish police later pulled in a fourth activist.
While real world leaders came to the summit, ate cake, and departed with an empty political agreement that leaves the future of the planet and millions of lives in peril, our four activists will be held in police custody without bail or trial until January 7th.
Non-violent, creative action
"Greenpeace's Climate Heroes were willing to risk their freedom for a cause," said Mads Christensen, Executive Director of Greenpeace Nordic. "Preventing them from spending the festive season with their families and loved ones is effectively a punishment without trial and has the appearance of a vindictive act. It is unnecessary and totally out of proportion to what they did", said Christensen.
Condemning the High Court's decision as a further "climate injustice" on top of the collossal political failure at the summit, we're is calling on the public to help step up pressure for the activists' release.
Despite the High Court's ruling, their freedom remains at the discretion of Denmark's Chief of Police.
Using only simple props, creativity and a little "audacity of hope" the activists arrived ahead of Hillary Clinton, carrying out an entirely peaceful call for action. Their message helped give voice to the hundreds of millions of people who rarely get the ear of politicians, even as their lives and ecosystems are progressively destroyed as politicians waffle.
The Real Crime
This historic climate summit which people around the world have been anticipating for the last year resulted in what is called the 'Copenhagen Accord' - an empty document containing no legally binding commitments for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Mads Christensen summed up the situation: "Over the past 20 years, our leaders have done virtually nothing to combat climate change. The Copenhagen climate summit was the moment for decisive action. But our leaders failed us. They failed to agree a legally binding treaty to prevent the Earth from warming beyond the crucial threshold of 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. Beyond this, we can expect impacts to severely affect the survival and wellbeing of millions of people and countless species. Failure to take action to protect the climate is not an option."
Act Now - Change the Future
It's time to put politicians on notice! Every email raised in protest about their failure is a step towards forcing them to act in all our interests.
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