Major Environmental Groups Banned from Summit, Scores Arrested in “Reclaim Power” Action

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/16/headlines

Scores Arrested in “Reclaim Power” Action at COP15

Hundreds of arrests have been made here in Copenhagen as climate justice advocates attempt a massive act of civil disobedience to disrupt the COP15 talks. Earlier today Danish police detained people around the city who were among the thousands making their way to the Bella Center for the “Reclaim Power” action. Organizers had vowed to stage a “people’s assembly” inside the summit to amplify calls for climate justice. As part of the action, hundreds of summit delegates and attendees marched through the Bella Center halls to join the protesters outside. Police have used pepper spray and batons against protesters as they converged on the site. The People’s Assembly took place on a street near the Bella Center with hundreds of people in attendance.


Major Environmental Groups Banned from Summit

In what could have been a preemptive move against the delegates’ walkout, several major environmental groups were barred from the climate summit earlier today. The groups, including Friends of the Earth International, Avaaz and Tck Tck Tck, say their accreditation was revoked without explanation. Around fifty people held a sit-in near a security checkpoint in response.

Protest Organizer Arrested, Jailed Overnight

Today’s arrests are the latest in a massive crackdown on climate justice activists. On Tuesday, a key organizer behind the Reclaim Power action was arrested as he left the Bella Center. The organizer, Tadzio Mueller, was jailed overnight without charge. Last week Mueller spoke to Current TV about the Danish police crackdown.

Tadzio Mueller: “This is simply par for the course. I mean, this is what we’ve come to expect from police forces around the world when these big protests happen. And we, the network Climate Justice Action, have been saying now for over a year that we are planning actions of civil disobedience. So in that sense it is absolutely unsurprising what the police are doing. And while, of course, we condemn it, we also don’t want to get caught in a situation where all we talk about is the police’s violation of our civil liberties. And no doubt those violations have occurred. We are really much more interested in talking about our different agenda for climate politics and that we’re absolutely on track to achieve some of the most amazing actions in the Global North, we hope, since the WTO protests in Seattle.”
US Envoy Rejects Higher Emissions Cuts, Reparations

World leaders are arriving in Copenhagen as the climate summit formally enters high-level talks. On Tuesday, US climate negotiator Todd Stern said he foresees no change in President Obama’s offer to cut emissions by 17 percent percent of 2005 levels. The proposal has been widely criticized because it amounts to just a four percent cut when adopting the 1990 standard used by the rest of the world.

Todd Stern: “I’m not anticipating any change in the mitigation commitment. I think that’s something that the President announced just—I don’t know, I guess it was a couple of weeks ago. And so, I don’t think there’s going to be a change in that commitment.”
Stern also renewed his opposition to the payment of climate reparations to poorer countries most affected by global warming.

Todd Stern: “We fully recognize our historic role in putting emissions up in the atmosphere, and we also fully recognize our responsibility to be part of an overall global effort to help poorer countries, both with regard to the need to adapt to the impacts of climate change and the need to help them develop on a sustainable path, which at this point in our collective history means low carbon path. Reparations, to me, conveys a sense of culpability, guilt, that kind of thing. I just—I don’t think that that’s a legitimate—a legitimate way to look at it.”

Canada, meanwhile, has acknowledged it’s drafted a secret plan that would exempt its largest polluters from meeting greenhouse gas reductions. A leaked proposal suggests Canada allow its oil and gas industry to cut emissions by fifteen megatonnes instead of the forty-eight megatonnes the Conservative government has proposed.