Watch: Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Hold Coronavirus and Fossil Fuel ‘Die-In’ in D.C.

A group of climate activists and pipeline protesters gathered in Washington, DC, on Thursday to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, holding a “die-in” which they say represented the impact of the Chinese coronavirus and fossil fuels.

The “die-in” served as a “representation of all the people whose lives have been cut short due to COVID-19 and also fossil fuels,” one activist said, merging the protestors’ two passions together. The activists proceeded with a moment of silence and subsequent song as several people laid on the ground in front of a pipeline “snake,” which one activist said represented “pipelines that are crossing indigenous lands [and] crossing stolen land.”

A sign underneath the snake read, “Biden, Army Corps: Your Inaction = Our Death.” One individual participating in the die-in held up a sign reading, “The American Dream is GENOCIDE.”

Protesters voiced several warnings to President Biden, demanding him to stop “climate-destroying projects” and urging him to build back the country “fossil-free.”

“We have been given another opportunity to protect our water and respect the rights of indigenous people and Mother Earth,” one protester said as others urged the 78-year-old commander-in-chief to “be the climate president you claim to be.”

Notably, Biden axed the Keystone XL Pipeline as one of his first actions upon taking office as radical Democrats in Congress continue to urge him to embrace Green New Deal-like policies.