NY eco activists turn up heat on Citi over polluting investments

NEW YORK, Aug 11 (AFP): Environmental campaigners in New York (NY) have kept up a campaign of direct action against one of the city's foremost banking empires, Citi, accusing the group of fueling the climate crisis.

Enraged by Citi's bankrolling of polluting businesses, activists have unleashed a "summer of heat" campaign that includes protests and leafleting, coupled with an online pressure campaign.

Every week, dozens of protesters gather at Citigroup's gleaming headquarters in Lower Manhattan to demand it change its fossil fuel investments policy, following in the footsteps of European campaigners who did the same with Eurozone banking giants. Nearly 600 people have been arrested at the New York protests and sit-ins so far.

In June four activist groups-Climate Organizing Hub, New York Communities for Change, Planet Over Profit and Stop the Money Pipeline-created the campaign against Citi, in conjunction with dozens of other groups.

"We met with them for years, and you just felt like we were getting nowhere," said protest organizer Jonathan Westin who vowed to keep up the campaign until Citi changes course.