SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A group of climate activists and artists from the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday shut down four blocks in the financial district downtown here to stage non-violent protests to seek climate justice.
The protesters took over the blocks along Montgomery Street to draw more than a dozen murals featuring stunning patterns and colors that each represented their vision of a "resilient, sustainable, and safe world necessary for survival."
The protesters, who held banners and posters reading "Protect Water, Climate and Communities," gathered at the downtown area to urge major companies and banks nearby to abandon fossil fuels and underscored the urgency to act on climate change.
Hilary McQuie, with Diablo Rising Tide, one of the organizers, said that they called on financial institutions in San Francisco to invest in green and renewable fuels.
"We're coming together to demand that the banks that are funding the climate crisis divest immediately from fossil fuels extraction and infrastructure, and start repairing the damage by investing in frontline communities and a just transition," McQuie said.
Diablo Rising Tide is the local chapter of Rising Tide, an international grassroots network that promotes community-based solutions to the climate crisis and take direct actions to confront the root causes of climate change.
It is among a coalition of organizers, including Rainforest Action Now, Idle No More SFBay and other environmental groups, to end climate chaos and injustice.
The protest was a follow-up to global climate strikes across the Bay Area last Friday, which drew thousands of young people, including college and high school students who even skipped school to take part.
