BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nev. – A group of climate change activists blocked the road to the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada on Sunday, which created a miles-long backup for motorists. Some unhappy law enforcement personnel responding to the major traffic jam ended the gridlock by barreling through the signs and barricades the protesters had strewn across travel lanes.
Video clips from FreedomNews.tv showed the extensive log jam as well as rangers belonging to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Police Department driving through the blockade in order to open up the roadway, the Daily Mail reported.
WARNING: Videos contain vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive.
#BREAKING "I'm gonna take all of you out!" – Nevada Rangers ram through climate protest blockade, point a gun at an activists as they smash them onto the ground for arrest after group @7seven_circles shut down BURNING MAN
Video by @ScooterCasterNY [email protected] to license pic.twitter.com/Z3Bvknx8ES
— FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) August 27, 2023
Once the blockade was eliminated, so was the major disruption by protesters, who then sniveled and whined as tribal rangers ordered them to the ground.
Two rangers were seen arresting a protester. (Screenshot FNTV)
Law enforcement authorities charged the protesters with trespassing on tribal land, according to the New York Post.
Video of the traffic backed up on Nevada freeway leading to #BurningMan after climate Protesters blocked the road pic.twitter.com/YxCdWBEpsh
— FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) August 28, 2023
While traffic was at a standstill, and prior to the action taken by the rangers, drivers and protesters argued, with some of the motorists trying to get through to push the barricade out of the road, the Western Journal reported.
One female protester who had chained herself to the trailer blocking the road yelled out, “Hey, you’re hurting me.”
A man trying to move the barrier replied, “Well you chained yourself to it.”
A woman obviously irritated with the protesters referred to the tactic a “dumb-a** move.”
Burning Man SHUT DOWN by Climate activists, people stuck in traffic shove and remove blockade with activists chained to it – NEVADA #BurningMan pic.twitter.com/zVvw17TuS8
— FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) August 27, 2023
According to the New York Post, the agitators protesting climate change were from the group Seven Circles.
The climate activists claim the festival’s actions are “detrimental to its claimed values, especially as carbon emissions continue to rise despite government and corporate commitments to reduce carbon emissions by more than half by 2030.”
Demands from Seven Circles are that Burning Man leadership “advocate for system change on both political and economic levels” and ban private jets, single-use plastics, “unnecessary propane burning and unlimited generator use” at the nine-day event.
But the group’s protest angered many trying to get to the annual event at Black Rock City.
“We do not have a climate problem, the climate is behaving exactly in line with the laws of physics,” Thomas Diocano, co-founder of Rave Revolution, said in a statement, according to the Post. “We have an economic system problem, and that economic system is capitalism.
“History shows that capitalism cannot be reformed. It cannot be changed from the ‘inside,’” he said. “Are we really ready to sacrifice everything for an outdated, unequal economic system?
“The time to evolve has come.”
Several protesters were taken into custody on Sunday. (Screenshot FNTV)
Meanwhile, several protesters were arrested for their involvement in the demonstration. The primary charge was “trespassing on tribal land,” authorities said.
