Graham Dean of the Hoping Machine leads protesters in song at the climate strike in front of the Mason Library Friday in Great Barrington, Mass.

Youth climate strike included arrests, street disturbances, as young and old sound the alarm about warming planet

In addition to the Simon's Rock students, the protest included approximately 300 other people, including students from Berkshire Country Day, the Berkshire Waldorf School and Monument Mountain Regional High School.

Great Barrington — Two students were arrested during a demonstration against climate change inaction Friday (September 20) in the street in front of the Mason Library. Dozens of police officers from at least five departments, along with State Police, eventually responded to the disturbance on Main Street.

After the lawn demonstration, which included about 300 people, a few students took to the streets, using the crosswalk between the library and the Great Barrington post office.

They took their signs with them, stopped in the middle of the crosswalk and refused to budge. They shouted at the stopped motorists, some of whom honked their approval. Others who honked were clearly annoyed at being stuck in traffic.

See video below of the incident and the arrests on Main Street:

The Great Barrington event was one of several others in the region that took place in Pittsfield, Williamstown, Boston and New York. Those events, in turn, were part of the Global Climate Strike taking place today and next Friday, Sept. 27.

After about five minutes of near-pandemonium, Great Barrington Police Officer Samuel Stolzar arrived at the scene. Using the bullhorn in his cruiser, he shouted at the youngsters to clear the street. When they ignored him, Stolzar exited his car and motioned for the demonstrators to disperse.

When they refused again, he approached one of the demonstrators as the group shouted, “Hey, hey. Ho Ho. Climate change has got to go!” After handcuffing the young woman, he put her into his cruiser. Then he did the same to a young man, who continued the chant even as Stolzar tucked him into the back seat of the squad car.

Great Barrington Police Chief Bill Walsh later identified the young man as Tobias Walker, 19, of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. The young woman who was arrested was not identified because she is a minor. Click here to view the arrest report by Stolzar.

Great Barrington Police Sgt. Adam Carlotto, left, speaks with student protesters. Photo: Terry Cowgill

After five more minutes, Sgt. Adam Carlotto arrived in an unmarked cruiser, at which point demonstrators began shouting, “Let them go!” At that point, Walsh arrived. Then over the next few minutes, more officers arrived, and State Police responded, along with officers from Stockbridge, Sheffield, Lee, and Egremont.

A few of the students shouted epithets at the officers. At least one other made several obscene gestures at Stolzar and other cops. The three who were arrested were students at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, said Chance Reeves, a fellow student at Simon’s Rock.

See video below of an interview with Chance Reeves, 15, a student at Bard Academy at Simon’s Rock:

After a few more minutes, more students entered the crosswalk and began chanting and walking in a loop. This action stopped traffic once again, amid chants of “We want justice and we want it now!”

Eventually the street was cleared again for traffic, as the arrival of four state troopers seemed to calm things down. Witnesses said traffic was backed up to the north all the way to the WSBS radio studios and south beyond the traffic light at the intersection of routes 7, 23 and 41.

In addition to the Simon’s Rock students, there were approximately 300 other people, including students from Berkshire Country Day, the Berkshire Waldorf School and Monument Mountain Regional High School.

Motivated by insufficient movement from the powers-that-be to mitigate the effects of climate change, the activists appeared in front of the Mason Library midday Friday to demand action.

The rally was organized by the Hoping Machine, a group of South County activists and musicians that includes Graham Dean and Jeannie Bassis. There were several passionate speeches from young people.

See video below of the speeches of young people who attended the event and the music performed by the Hoping Machine:

There were an estimated 2,500 such events taking place across the world. The young activists are protesting as the U.N. prepares to hold its Climate Action Summit in New York on Monday.

“Young people have woken up much of the world with their powerful Fridays For Future school strikes for the climate,” world climate strike organizers said in a statement.

“Now, millions of adults are joining in a huge wave that will kickstart renewed action all over the world. The urgency of the climate crisis requires a new approach and a just response centered on human rights, equity, and justice.”

Reeves, the Simon’s Rock student, told The Edge, “Today was just about getting media attention, mostly. It was about getting people to know about this, to speak out about this and getting a sense of community and everyone who is acting for the same cause.”

An unidentified young woman makes an obscene gesture to a Stockbridge police officer.

Reeves was asked whether they were concerned the media focus might not be to their liking, given the way events unfolded. Reeves replied, “I am pretty concerned. The three students who were arrested were all Simon’s Rock students … we are worried that the focus won’t be on climate change and that there will be a little bit of stigma from … the annoyance that was caused by this.”

Dean, the leader of the Hoping Machine, agreed: “My biggest fear is the headlines tomorrow will be that,” Dean said, pointing to the street, “and nothing else … I understand the kids are angry. I don’t know what I would have done when I was 18. I might have done the same thing. They’re angry and they did what they thought they needed to do.”

Bassis said the Hoping Machine organized the Great Barrington event because she and her partners did not want to drive to Pittsfield for the climate strike there.

“We started this,” Bassis said. “We organized this, but the global climate strike is a youth-inspired, youth-engineered movement.”

Bassis noted the emblem of the Global Climate Strike movement, Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist who traveled from her native Sweden to Washington on a 60-foot emissions-free sailboat to testify before Congress. Previously she had staged her own school climate strike just outside the doors of the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm. Norwegian lawmakers subsequently nominated Greta for a Nobel Peace Prize.

See video of an interview below of organizer Jeannie Bassis:

Bassis said the climate strike is but one of the notable ongoing youth-inspired movements. Others include campaigns against gun violence led by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a landmark mass shooting occurred last year.

Students all over the world, Bassis said, are respectfully saying to adults, “You’re not trying hard enough. You’re not doing enough. You’re not getting it done.” Of the protesting, Bassis smiled and said, “We did it in the 60s.”

As for the disturbance, Bassis said it appeared to be spontaneous. She noted that one enthusiastic young man told some others, “We really mean business. Let’s take it to the street.” And a group of people then followed him.

Critics have charged that the world climate strike is more about indoctrination than science. Many school districts, including the nation’s largest in New York City, have excused students from classes if they want to attend events in their areas.

Both Berkshire Hills Regional School District Superintendent Peter Dillon and Southern Berkshire Regional School District Superintendent Beth Regulbuto told The Edge their students were allowed to attend the event.

People of all ages attended the event. Photo: Terry Cowgill

“We’re aware of the climate strike and that some students may participate,” Dillon said. “We don’t have a specific policy on attendance at protests. If students choose to participate in outside events, our expectation is that they make up missed work.”

Dillon added that today was a half day anyway because of faculty professional development, so the students might not have missed classes at all, depending on when they left to attend the noon event in Great Barrington.

“There will be no issue or penalty associated with attendance at SBRSD for students who wish to participate at today’s climate strike,” Regulbuto said in an email, adding that students would be expected to make up any missed work.

In a statement released several hours later, Chief Walsh said Walker was booked for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, for failing to obey Stolzar’s orders to cease blocking traffic. Walker was released on his own recognizance. No court date was specified.

Walsh said traffic was backed up to the north all the way the studios of WSBS radio on Stockbridge Road. The scene was cleared in about 90 minutes. There were no injuries related to the incident.

“The vast majority of the crowd were polite and respectful,” Walsh said. “A small number, not so much. “