Cello-playing climate activist arrested at New York Citibank protest as crackdown escalates

A 63-year-old climate activist and professional cellist faces up to seven years in prison after being arrested on Thursday while performing a Bach solo outside the headquarters of one of the world’s largest fossil fuel financier Citibank in downtown New York.

John Mark Rozendaal, a former Princeton professor, and Alec Connon, director of the climate nonprofit group Stop the Money Pipeline, were arrested for criminal contempt in the public park at the bank’s global headquarters as the crackdown against nonviolent climate protesters escalates.

Rozendaal was handcuffed and led away to the police vehicle singing “we are not afraid, we are not afraid, we will sing for liberation because we know why we were made”. The crowd of protesters chanted “let him play” and “ shame on you Citibank”.

Thirteen other climate activists, who had linked arms in a circle around Rozendaal to protect him as he played Bach’s suites for cello, were detained for alleged obstruction of governmental administration, a misdemeanor criminal charge. “People are dying … today is my birthday,” said Mike Bucci, 77, teary eyed as the police in riot gear broke up the protest.

Since 10 June, climate activists have been peacefully protesting against Citibank’s record financial support for new fossil fuel projects as part of the Summer of Heat on Wall Street campaign. At least 3,700 people have participated in the nonviolent civil disobedience, repeatedly blockading the entrance to its global headquarters. More than 475 people including faith leaders, scientists and elders have been arrested while calling on Citi to stop bankrolling new coal, oil and gas.

Citi is the second largest financier of fossil fuels and the largest financier of fossil fuel expansion since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, according to the latest Banking on Climate Chaos report.

The latest arrests come as climate advocates accuse Citibank and the NYPD of coordinated and escalating efforts to suppress nonviolent protests in retaliation for drawing attention to the banking giant’s key role in funding fossil projects globally. (Citi declined to comment on the allegation. The NYPD told Inside Climate News that there was no escalation in law enforcement’s response and individuals had not been targeted.)

Over the course of five days in July, four high-profile “summer of heat” organizers and activists were arrested on what they say are bogus charges targeting campaign leaders – an escalation condemned by hundreds of celebrities, scientists, lawmakers, students, nonprofits and climate activists.

“The window to avert the worst impacts of climate change is rapidly closing … efforts by the fossil fuel industry and its allies to criminalize and suppress protests imperil democratic freedoms and obstruct meaningful climate action,” said Kathy Mulvey from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

In 2021, the International Energy Agency warned that the world must immediately halt investment in new upstream oil and gas development, in order to have any hope of complying with the Paris climate accords and curtailing global heating to 1.5C (35F). Since then, Citibank has provided $60bn to the companies expanding oil, gas and coal operations.

Among the leaders facing criminal proceedings are Rozendaal and Connon, who were first arrested on 18 July and charged with assault, they say falsely, against a man, James Flynn, who is working with Citi’s private security team. Flynn was granted temporary restraining orders, reviewed by the Guardian, against Rozendaal and Connon which prohibits the activists from communicating with him or going near his person, home, business or workplace for six months, but does not specify any of these locations.

Flynn appears to have previously worked as a NYPD detective, according to publicly available databases, information from his social media and his own comments to protesters.

Citi declined to comment on Flynn’s role. The NYPD did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.

On Thursday, Rozendaal and Connon returned to the Citibank HQ in violation of the restraining order, which they believe is unconstitutional, and were arrested for criminal contempt, a charge that carries a maximum seven-year sentence.

As the detainees were driven away for arraignment, one participant, Felipe, 86, a retired realtor originally from Cuba, said: “This is a moral cause. The police are doing the wrong thing.”

Graham Bier, 41, a singer who has performed with Rozendaal, and who traveled from Philadelphia to attend the protest with his four year-old son, said: “We’ve had warnings since the 60s and 70s and I don’t know what it’s gonna take to shift such a massive habit, but it’s it’s getting so desperate.”

In a separate incident on 21 July, videographer and summer of heat organizer Teddy Ogborn was arrested and held in a cell for more than eight hours, days after he filmed an alleged Citi employee apparently inciting violence against climate protesters blocking the entrance.

“Just punch him in the f–king head! Punch him in the f–king head,” shouted the woman, identified by protesters as the executive assistant to Citi’s co-head of Global Financial Strategy, which Ogborn caught on camera. “Get a machine gun and f–king kill them all,” she added.

“These comments are unacceptable,” a Citi spokesperson said. “We are looking into the matter and it will be addressed appropriately.”

At an earlier protest, Ogborn also captured Citi’s general counsel apparently shoving a female protester who was among a group blocking the entrance. A Citi spokesperson said the protesters’ claims were false and that an employee was initially hit by a barricade before pushing it out of his way.

Ogborn was charged with obstruction of governmental administration, a misdemeanor, for allegedly having placed a hand on a barricade that was being moved by activists a week earlier. The charge was dropped two weeks later.

“We have made the bank synonymous with environmental destruction, violence and fossil fuels, and I have been capturing moments that are damaging for Citi,” said Ogborn, cofounder of Planet over Profits. “The escalation against organizers is targeted, and attempts to use bogus charges to harass and intimidate protesters.”

Last year, Citibank financed almost twice as much fossil fuel energy as clean energy, less than its competitors JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. In order to meet global climate goals, banks must finance four times as much clean energy as fossil fuel energy, according to research by BloombergNEF.

The methodology used to calculate fossil fuel financing has been previously disputed by some banks.

A spokesperson for Citi said the bank is “transparent” about its “climate-related activities” and its approach reflects the need to transition and meet global energy needs. “We are supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy through our net zero commitments and our $1tn sustainable finance goal.”

“The Summer of Heat campaign has mobilized thousands of everyday people and brought financial executives face-to-face with the very communities they are harming through the billions they bankroll in fossil fuels,” said New York City council member Alexa Avilés.

“Rather than engage on the merits of their arguments and acknowledge the role they play, Citibank has chosen to unleash a brutal police crackdown on organizers … You cannot incarcerate your way to a livable planet.”