Four dozen environmental activists succeeded in getting themselves arrested outside the White House on Wednesday afternoon to draw attention to their demand that President Obama reject construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.Julian Bond, the civil rights leader; Daryl Hannah, the actress; Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club; Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of the Waterkeeper Alliance; Bill McKibben, a longtime climate change campaigner; and James Hansen, a prominent climate scientist, were the celebrity faces of the arrestees, who zip-tied themselves to the White House fence and defied police orders to leave.They and about 40 others were hauled away in police vans, charged with failure to disperse and obey lawful orders, and released on $100 bond each.The Sierra Club, whose board authorized participation in acts of civil disobedience for the first time in the group’s 120-year history, organized the protest. Mr. Brune said that Mr. Obama had made forceful and eloquent statements about the need to address climate change, including remarks in Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, and now needed to stop the pipeline to signal his seriousness.
Keystone XL Protesters Seized at White House - NYTimes.com