Climate change activists have announced plans to protest the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday where President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak.
On Saturday afternoon, Climate Defiance said it was “circulating the 30th Annual White House Correspondents Garden Brunch in DC to demand truth in reporting.”
“No one can call Joe Biden a ‘climate-friendly president’ as he destroys the planet with new oil + gas projects,” the group Tweet along with a video apparently showing a protest in Washington, DC
Climate Defiance organizers told ABC News they plan to block off the area near the dinner Saturday night in an effort to hold Biden, who announced his reelection bid Tuesday, accountable for what they say is his 2020 campaign promise to end fossil fuel extraction on public lands.
“Number one, no more subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No more ability for the oil industry to continue drilling, period, end, “said Biden at the March 2020 Democratic presidential debate.
The group asked protesters to gather at a Metro station near the Washington Hilton, the hotel where Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks at an annual dinner with an audience of Washington news media.
The group of youth-led activists had been protesting in Washington, DC, for most of the week leading up to Saturday’s event.
On Tuesday, Climate Defiance interrupted a speech given by John Podesta, who is the president’s senior advisor for the clean energy transition and implementation since September 2022. On Wednesday, activists blocked the Declaration of Emergency the a section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, causing heavy traffic. jams around the nation’s capital.
The next day, at the National Gallery of Art, protesters from a group calling themselves “Declare Emergency” smeared black and red paint on the case and pedestal of Edgar Degas’ “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” sculpture. .
The White House Correspondents’ Association said it was taking precautions, although it did not specify what they were.
“We are aware of the planned protest. There are security precautions in place,” WHCA President Tamara Keith told ABC News.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts, which owns the property where the dinner will be held, told ABC News it supports “non-disruptive” demonstrations.
“Washington Hilton respects the rights of all parties to express their views on unlawful and disruptive behavior; however, we are also committed to protecting the safety and security of our Members in Team and guests,” said a Hilton spokesperson. “We will take all necessary steps, in cooperation with local law enforcement officials, to ensure that such activities do not disrupt those entering and exiting the hotel.”
The Metropolitan Police Department told ABC News that law enforcement is “aware of potential First Amendment activities” related to the dinner and said the department “will continue to monitor and plan accordingly with our partners to enforce federal law to ensure the safety of DC residents and visitors.”
The expected demonstration is needed to persuade Biden to act on climate change and keep young voters invested in his reelection, Rylee Haught, the lead recruiter for Climate Defiance, told ABC News.
“If Biden wants to continue to see the support of young people that he had when he was elected, he needs to keep his promises, especially on climate change, because young people know on that it’s an existential threat,” Haught said.
“We know we don’t have time to wait. If he wants the youth vote to continue, he better stop taking federal lands,” he added.
Even if all the countries that signed up to reduce carbon emissions keep their climate agreements, it will not be enough to prevent the Earth from warming to 1.5 degrees, the activist said.
“Young people have the most to lose in this fight, we also have the most to give so we stopped the reporters’ dinner,” Haught said.
Haught’s disdain goes beyond elected officials.
“Mainstream media outlets are accepting similar funds from oil and gas companies. And they don’t seem to be addressing the climate crisis with the urgency it deserves,” he said.
Haught said she feels young activists like herself are channeling the despair from the pandemic and mass shootings into direct action.
“Young people can’t just sit back and wait for a future that’s in pure chaos. We’re living in a deadly pandemic,” he told ABC News.
Haught, a West Virginia native, told ABC News that he wants the public to understand that the protesters are “putting their bodies on the line for everyone’s future.”
“People are losing their lives. People are actively losing their lives in unprecedented fires and floods,” he said. “Sorry if people feel inconvenienced, but they will suffer far worse consequences if we don’t take direct action now.”
There have been many protests outside the annual dinner in previous years.
In 2016 protesters gathered to call attention to the civil war in Syria, and in 2009, the activist group Code Pink confronted former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, calling for his arrest.
