Police Arrest Greenpeace Protesters Hanging From Fred Hartman Bridge Near Houston

Deputies from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, alongside Houston police and fire departments, arrested at least two protesters out of several who suspended themselves from the Fred Hartman Bridge in Baytown, Texas, on September 12.

Greenpeace activists suspended themselves from the bridge and unfurled flags to forced the closure of a section of the Houston Ship Channel in a protest against the oil industry.

“We’re in Houston shutting down the largest oil export channel in the country to resist Trump & the oil industry for fueling this #ClimateCrisis. It’s time to end the age of oil. #PeopleVsOil,” said Greenpeace USA on Twitter. The protest comes as the Democratic candidates were set to debate on Thursday night, with climate change a major topic of discussion.

“While the ongoing protest on the Fred Hartman Bridge has created major disruptions, we will not needlessly endanger lives of first responders or anyone else just to resolve a temporary situation. We are assessing & preparing for a number of contingencies,” said Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez in a post on Facebook. In another post Gonzalez talked about the various difficulties he and other agencies faced in responding to the protest, such as the unknown reliability of the protesters’ equipment and authorities’ inability to “do any medical surveillance” on the individuals suspended from the bridge.

The sheriff’s office said they expected the protest to “last until Friday morning.” Credit: HCSO Texas via Storyful