Climate activists and anti-capitalists blocked a highway leading to Burning Man on Sunday, the opening day of the annual event, creating miles of traffic jams and sparking clashes with motorists and tribal rangers in the Nevada desert.
Videos and photos posted to with signs that read “BURNERS OF THE WORLD, UNITED!”, “ABOLISH CAPITALISM” and “GENERAL STRIKE FOR THE CLIMATE”, they also blocked the road. On the asphalt there was a sign that said “Prohibition of private jets.”
The blockade was intended to highlight “capitalism's inability to address climate and ecological breakdown,” according to a statement from Seven Circles, a coalition of activist organizations that organized the protest.
“The blockade is also a protest against the popularization of Burning Man among wealthy people who do not live Burning Man's stated values, resulting in the commodification of the event,” Seven Circles said. “The group emphasizes the current existential crisis and the importance of honesty when social collapse is at risk.”
The protests caused congested traffic and many people got out of their cars or tried to find a way around the roadblock. Video shows clashes between protesters and people stuck in traffic. some of whom said they needed to go to work. Several motorists tried to lift the barricade themselves, according to videos posted online.
a video It shows a white van that appears to be from the Pyramid Lake Ranger Station, a tribal law enforcement agency, broadcasting a message over the vehicle's public address system telling protesters: “This is a state route” and “Everyone will be arrested” if you don't disperse and get out of the way.
“Thirty seconds, send your leader to my vehicle, let's talk, get off the damn road,” someone can be heard saying.
Another clip shows a ranger's truck driving through the barricade with its sirens and lights blaring in the desert. An announcement can be heard over a truck's public address system telling protesters: “I'll get you all out, you better move.” An official then exits the truck with a gun in his hand and yells at the protesters to “get down now.”
The protesters do not appear to be armed and protesters repeatedly say they are “non-violent.”
According to the video, several protesters were handcuffed at the scene.
It's unclear when officers were called, how many people were arrested or why one officer pointed a gun at what appeared to be unarmed protesters. Pyramid Lake officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Jonathan Brunjes, deputy administrator of Nevada State Parks, confirmed that the responding officers were not Nevada State Parks agents or Nevada state employees.
In its statement, Seven Circles criticized Burning Man's “apolitical stance” and what it characterizes as the event's insufficient steps toward “achieving the carbon negativity and ecological regeneration of Black Rock City by 2030.”
“Much more can and should be done,” the group stated.
The group has put forward three demands for Burning Man leadership, including advocating for systemic political and economic change, mobilizing Burners to collaborate with social justice and environmental movements on strikes and calls for action to impose systemic change, and “ lead by example”. “
A online petition Started by Emily Collins, a burner and co-founder of Rave Revolution, one of the groups involved in the protest, it had collected 23 signatures by early Monday morning.
Burning Man began Sunday and runs through Sept. 4, according to the Burning Man Project website.
