Activists blocked delegates arriving at Davos Lago heliport in private jets
Greenpeace activists have disrupted the World Economic Forum’s annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, with a series of protests.
Protestors briefly blocked the ski resort’s heliport and attached inflatable ball-and-chains to three private jets parked next to the airport runway.
They also placed stickers on the planes reading: “CONFISCATED: Time to Tax the Super-Rich.”
In a statement, Greenpeace said the protest aimed to “hold polluting elites accountable and calls on governments to tax the super-rich to fund climate, environmental and social action”.
Data from the flight tracker website Flightradar24 shows that private jet activity around Davos has risen since the annual meeting began on Monday.
At Zurich, the nearest large airport to Davos, 54 private jets landed on Monday, an increase of 170% compared to the average for the past week.
Activists also entered the main congress hall and dropped a banner reading “Tax the Super-rich! Fund a Just and Green Future”, while playing an audio message: “This is a public service announcement. It is Time to Tax the Super-Rich to Fund a Just and Green Future”.
More than 50 heads of state and government are attending the WEF annual summit this week, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Clara Thompson, Greenpeace spokesperson in Davos said: “It is an outrage that politicians, CEOs and the powerful elite gather at Davos to debate endlessly on global challenges while the world is burning and people struggle with meeting basic needs and dealing with worsening climate impacts. Inequality, the climate and environmental crises are intimately linked.
“There is a way forward; the super-rich must pay their fair share of taxes. There’s no lack of money to address the climate and environmental and social crisis, it’s just in the wrong pockets and it’s time to make rich polluting elites pay.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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