Citibank Staffer Punches Climate Activist During Protest

A climate protester was taken to a hospital bleeding on Wednesday, according to organizers, after a security guard at Citibank's global headquarters in New York punched him in the face as campaigners assembled in the lobby of the building.

The climate advocate, Eren Can Illeri, was taking part in an action organized by Summer of Heat, which is supported by a coalition including New York Communities for Change, Planet Over Profit, and Stop the Money Pipeline.

Illeri was joining other campaigners in calling on Citibank executives to meet with them to discuss the bank's funding of fossil fuel projects. Citibank has invested $396.3 billion into coal, gas, and oil infrastructure projects since the Paris climate agreement was finalized in 2015, and Summer of Heat has made the bank its top target this summer as it demands Wall Street divest from the climate emergency.

"We have been asking Citi to meet with us for weeks to talk about what it can do to tackle the climate emergency," said Alicé Nascimento, a spokesperson for the Summer of Heat campaign. "But rather than meet with us, they have sent their security guards to physically attack peaceful climate activists after weeks of intimidation and threats."

Illeri appeared to be filming with a cellphone when the security staff member approached him and tried to grab the phone out of his hands, according to a video of the incident. The guard then punched Illeri in the face while holding the phone, and pushed him to the ground.

The violence displayed mirrors "the violence of fossil fuels and climate chaos," said Alice Hu, a climate campaigner for New York Communities for Change.

"Citi backs violence and it's sickening," she said.

Summer of Heat began on June 10, and since then more than 4,000 campaigners have joined protests to demand Citibank end its financing of fossil fuel projects.

More than 475 people have been arrested for protesting the bank's investments—including a cello-playing grandfather last week—and protesters last month reported being shoved by one of the bank's top lawyers.

"Citi keeps proving their violent business is rooted in violent people," said Planet Over Profit. "This can't go on."