Westside : Group Stages Protest at Bank Over Rain Forest Destruction
Members of the Rainforest Action Network, a nonprofit environmental group, scaled 50-foot palm trees and climbed onto the Bank of California building in Beverly Hills on Wednesday to protest the destruction of the world’s dwindling rain forests.
Two people sat in the trees for more than seven hours while a third was suspended on a rope strung between a tree and a parking structure. The demonstrators hung a banner urging people not to do business with the bank.
Beverly Hills police arrested 11 demonstrators for misdemeanors ranging from unlawful posting of banners and failure to disperse to trespassing. Traffic was narrowed to a single lane in front of the bank building in the 9400 block of Wilshire Boulevard.
Rainforest Action Network also staged demonstrations Monday in New York, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Minneapolis.
The environmental group targeted Bank of California--now known as Union Bank of California as a result of the merger Monday between Bank of California and Union Bank--because the financial institution is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Bank, which the Rainforest Action Network claims finances mining operations in rain forests.
According to a statement issued by Union Bank of California, the subsidiary has no control over Mitsubishi’s operations.
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