Greenpeace activists have evaded the World Economic Forum’s tight security checks, staging a brief climate change protest outside the main hall of the annual meeting in Davos.
Dressed up in dark suits and white shirts, on January 21 three protesters made it into the Congress Centre and scaled a balcony. Two then unfurled a large banner reading: “Tax the super-rich. Fund a just & green future”.
Security staff intervened and escorted the protesters away, shortly before the official opening ceremony and a speech by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“The three activists have been taken away from the scene,” Greenpeace activist Clara Thompson told Reuters later by telephone. Asked how they had got inside the security cordon, Thompson said: “They had their ways and means, I can’t say any more.”
The message to business and political leaders attending the meeting in Switzerland echoed another protest by Greenpeace on January 19, during which activists blocked the Davos heliport.
Security is tight for the World Economic Forum (WEF), where one of the main themes for discussion is “safeguarding the planet”.
The WEF said on its 2025 programme that it was “crucial for businesses, governments, and civil society to work together to find common solutions and take decisive action”.
Demonstrators protesting over fossil fuel subsidies had also on January 19 splattered paint green on the shop front where us multinational Amazon set up a temporary base on the main street.
