By Steve Klamkin WPRO News
Two protestors chained themselves to a concrete and metal pillar in the vestibule of a downtown Providence bank Thursday to demonstrate opposition to the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline.
Providence firefighters used bolt cutters to remove the pair, identified by colleagues with The FANG Collective as Laura Borth and Steve Davis, both of Massachusetts. They faced charges of disrupting a business office, said Providence Police Captain George Stamatakos.
“Today, we are shutting down this TD Bank because TD Bank is one of the main funders of the Dakota Access pipeline,” said FANG Collective spokeswoman Sherrie Anne Andre of Providence.
A bank manager would not talk with reporters, deferring comment to a spokesman, who was not immediately available.
Demonstrations against the pipeline drew headlines in recent weeks, centered around the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, due in part to the arrests of figures including actress Shailene Woodley of the movies “Divergent” and “Snowden”, and Amy Goodman, host of the independent “Democracy Now!” public radio and television program. On Monday, a judge dismissed a riot charge against Goodman, while Woodley faces a court appearance October 24 on a criminal trespass charge.
Andre said the protest was similar to one that the group staged in April, when members chained themselves to the entrance of the Textron headquarters, protesting the company’s production of military cluster bombs. Textron has since said it would discontinue making the bombs.
“We will continue to show our solidarity with all indigenous folks who are fighting fracked gas infrastructure, as well as anybody who’s working on these kinds of projects,” said Andre. “We want to stop this project and we won’t stop until it’s over.”
