Extinction Rebellion Boston Activists Joined in Climate Defiance's Blockade of White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington D.C
Early Saturday morning, April 29th, a carload of five Extinction Rebellion Boston climate activist traveled from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington D.C to join Climate Defiance & blockade the White House Correspondents Dinner.
We gathered at Dupont Circle in Washington DC for a rally and then marched from there to the Washington Hilton Hotel where President Biden was hosting the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, and we successfully blockaded it, inconveniencing Washington's political and media elite from not only entering the hotel, but from having their traditional "red carpet" arrival. While I was with my friends & XRBoston comrades at the main entrance, additional activists, including Rocking Chair Rebellion blockaded the rear and side entrances. Even the presidential motorcade had to find an alternate route since all the main entrances were blocked by protesters demanding that President Joe Biden end all new fossil fuel projects like Willow in Alaska and LNG in the Gulf of Mexico, that President Biden lied and broke his campaign promise to end fossil fuel leasing on federal lands.
Hollywood celebrities like John Legend, senators and media moguls, etc were forced to be dropped off blocks away and walk through protesters and police barricades. At one point a US government SUV attempted to force its way through the blockade, but was forced to reverse and drive away. While there was a heavy police presence, including US secret service, they did not intervene, nor make any attempts to stop us. No one was arrested.
The blockade lasted til around 10:30pm and then we marched over a mile away to the French ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C.’s, Kalorama neighborhood where the after party was and continued to protest until shortly before midnight.
