Protesters disrupt US fossil-fuel event

Associated Press

KATOWICE, Poland

Protesters disrupted a U.S. government event at United Nations climate talks Monday, criticizing the Trump administration’s policy of backing the extraction of fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

About 100 people from groups representing indigenous people and youths stood up and chanted “Keep it in the ground” near the beginning of the American presentation. As cameras swarmed around them, some of the protesters explained the extraction of coal, oil and natural gas affects their communities.

The U.S. event, titled “U.S. Innovative Technologies Spur Economic Dynamism,” took place on the sidelines of the ongoing U.N. meeting in Katowice, Poland. After several minutes, the activists left the room chanting “Shame on you.” Their actions mirrored a similar protest during a U.S.-hosted panel at last year’s U.N. climate talks in Bonn, Germany.

Wells Griffith, a Trump administration adviser at the Department of Energy, said after the interruption that the United States would continue extracting fossil fuels, including through hydraulic fracking.