Protesters Stage Die-In At Trump Tower On Sandy Anniversary

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Protesters blocked the Fifth Avenue entrance to Trump Tower on Monday morning to commemorate the sixth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy with a "die in."

About 50 demonstrators from environmental advocacy groups such as NY Renews and 350 Action held signs representing the number of people killed by storms such as Sandy and Hurricanes Harvey and Maria, which ravaged Houston and Puerto Rico in 2017.

The protest was organized to call attention to the "willful and harmful climate ignorance that cascades out of the White House on a daily basis," and call for climate reforms on the federal and state levels, organizers told Patch.

"The policies of the Trump administration are a direct attack on the communities most impacted by the changing climate and life threatening pollution. It is time for Governor Cuomo to step in and protect New Yorkers from Trump’s dangerous agenda, by pushing for the enactment of aggressive climate legislation that prioritizes action in our most vulnerable communities," Eddie Bautista, executive director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, said in a statement.

In addition to criticizing the Trump Administration, protesters also had demands of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The groups called on Cuomo to be a climate leader and to help pass the Climate and Community Protection Act in 2019. The act overwhelmingly passed the Democrat-controlled State Assembly in 2018, but failed to be brought to a vote in the Republican-controlled State Senate.

The legislation aims to end all human-caused climate pollution by 2050 by mandating an economy-wide shift to renewable energy, according to NY Renews.

Protesters who obstructed the entrance to Trump Tower were not arrested during the demonstration, as opposed to many other protests at the President's Midtown skyscraper in the past.

Photo courtesy Daniela Lapidous/NY Renews