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Greenpeace protesters climb crane blocks from the White House

By Ed Adamczyk
Greenpeace activists hang a banner reading "Resist" from a crane near the White House, in Washington, D.C., on January 25, 2017. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
1 of 3 | Greenpeace activists hang a banner reading "Resist" from a crane near the White House, in Washington, D.C., on January 25, 2017. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Greenpeace demonstrators in downtown Washington climbed a construction crane several blocks from the White House on Wednesday morning and displayed a sign reading "Resist."

Aquina Brown, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department, said seven people climbed the crane in a construction area in the vicinity of 15th and L streets, the site of the old Washington Post building in northwest Washington. They tethered themselves to the horizontal arm of the crane after climbing 270 feet upward, before unfurling a 70-foot by 35-foot banner featuring the word "Resist."

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A statement released after the climb by Greenpeace, the environmental activist group, said the protest is a call "for those who want to resist [President Donald] Trump's attacks on environmental, social, economic, and educational justice to contribute to a better America."

Traffic was shut down in the vicinity. No arrests have been made.

The protest Wednesday came the day after Trump signed executive measures that would make it possible to complete the Dakota Access pipeline and restart the process for the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. Each project has been a source of contention on environmental grounds and have spurred numerous demonstrations.

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The proximity of Dakota Access to tribal lands in and around North Dakota prompted water-quality concerns from the state's Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. Former President Barack Obama's administration ruled against the Keystone XL oil pipeline on environmental grounds. Although the restart of those projects by the Trump administration was not mentioned in the Greenpeace statement regarding Wednesday's action, Greenpeace has been an active member of the protest movement against those projects.

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