About a dozen people gathered on a street corner near the northbound exit of D.C.’s Third Street Tunnel on Monday morning.
Conversing among themselves amid the bustle of morning rush hour, they suddenly unfurled banners and put on safety vests. Six of them entered the crosswalk minutes later and sat on the pavement of the inbound side, causing a cacophony of horns from stranded commuters.
For climate protesters from Declare Emergency, blocking traffic at the Third Street Tunnel was far from their first experience with roadblocks. Local commuters may already be familiar with the group’s disruptive tactics from their numerous blockades on the Capital Beltway in Maryland and Interstate 395 in Southwest D.C. over the last two years.
Following Earth Day, Declare Emergency returned this week for another round of protests aimed at urging President Joe Biden to declare a national climate emergency and halt fossil fuel extraction on all federal and Indigenous lands. They are one of several climate groups worldwide that have embraced disruption, despite the risk of alienating the public — an approach that has proven divisive within the climate movement.
However, Donald Zepeda, one of Declare Emergency’s first members, sees disruptive action as a worthwhile endeavor. Zepeda noted that the group’s week-long protest plan would bridge the gap between last Saturday’s Earth Day march in the District and a planned blockade of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner by a coalition of climate activists this coming weekend.
“We need to really step it up and cause disruption. We don’t want to do things intending to harm anyone, but we do need to ‘pull the fire alarm’ and bring this to places where it’s not being talked about enough,” Zepeda told WTOP. “This sort of thing has worked in the past. We might end up being disliked, and we’re OK with that, but we need to get it out there and get it talked about.”
Declare Emergency sat on the crosswalk at the inbound turnoff to New York Avenue NW with banners displaying the group’s name. Some held signs calling for an end to the ConocoPhillips Willow Project, a billion-dollar oil drilling proposal in Alaska that has faced fervent opposition online. For just over half an hour, they watched — mostly in silence — as angry drivers rolled down their windows or left their vehicles to yell at the six protesters who had delayed their commute.
Climate activists with a group called Declare Emergency stalled inbound traffic at D.C.’s Third Street Tunnel, a major commuter route, during morning rush today. Three arrested demanding Biden declare a climate emergency at the federal level. pic.twitter.com/LMPaT5E3yk
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) April 24, 2023
“These are working-class people; they can’t help you,” said one frustrated driver, gesturing to the long line of vehicles stretching back into the tunnel, whose front bumper was almost face-to-face with two demonstrators. “There are people late for work,” said a woman who had left her car to shout at the roadblock.
At least two school buses were stuck in the resulting traffic jam: “I get y’all’s protest, but we’ve got kids on the school bus who need to get to school,” one of the drivers told protesters.
Three people were taken into custody by D.C. police and driven elsewhere for processing. Their arrests followed audible warnings from an officer on a loudspeaker that the sit-in was in violation of D.C. law against blocking roadways.
“It’s my birthday this week — I’m turning 32. I shouldn’t have to be here; I should be out celebrating,” protester Lauren Glass said in a news release from Declare Emergency following her arrest. “As a young person today, how can I celebrate a future that looks so bleak? How can I stand by while our leaders look away? Because the science is clear: We only have a few years left to keep the warming of our planet below catastrophic levels.”
