"It’s such a safety hazard": Netizens react as Nevada rangers arrest climate activists for blocking highway

Nevada Rangers had their hands full on August 27, when the route to Burning Man, Nevada, was blocked by a bunch of climate activists, whom the rangers arrested at gunpoint. The roadblock was led by members of Seven Circles, who blocked the street with a trailer and clashed with those trying to get by.

This forced rangers to plow through the blockade. Videos of the protestors clashing with people in traffic and the ranger truck plowing through the blockade have since gone viral on the internet. Most netizens responded in an overwhelmingly positive manner and sided with the Rangers.

In fact, many people were annoyed at the protestors and stated that they were disrupting public order. One X (formerly Twitter) user noted that they were being "a safety hazard."

Netizens applauded the actions of the Nevada Rangers (Image via X)

"Burners of the World Unite", "Abolish Capitalism", and "Ban Private Jets", were some of the signs on display at the blockade in Nevada on the route to Burning Man 2023, on Sunday. Protestors rammed a trailer into the middle of the road and stood their ground. However, things began to get ugly when drivers, who were stuck behind a long line of traffic, got out to deal with them.

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Netizens pleased with Nevada Rangers

Several videos showcased drivers trying to physically remove the trailer from the middle of the road while protestors doubled down on any effort they made. One woman protestor even chained herself to the trailer, and every time the drivers moved the trailer, she screamed that her life was being put at risk.

FREEDOMNEWS TV - NATIONAL's YouTube video showcased a protestor telling another man:

"Every change in society came from civil disobedience. All of them."

After a while, Nevada's Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Police Department Rangers showed up and rammed through the barricade without hesitation, which left some protestors screaming. Officers exited their vehicles and forcefully arrested the protestors by brandishing guns and sternly requesting them to get on the ground immediately. One protestor could be heard crying:

"We have no weapons at all. We're environmental protestors."

Videos of the protestors, commuters, and rangers went viral on multiple social media. X user @MichelleLhooq shared a video of the Nevada rangers ramming through the blockade, which was then quote re-tweeted by @EndWokeness, whose August 28 Tweet amassed over 2.8 million views.

Netizen responses were overwhelmingly positive towards the actions of the rangers and criticisms were leveled against the protestors. X users talked about the protest environment in Europe and compared that with America's and made fun of the protestors crying as they got arrested.

People were not at all happy with protestors blocking public property to disrupt lives and were curious to know why they would actually think such a tactic would work. Some even pointed out an "Abolish Capitalism" sign and claimed that the whole thing was just a ploy against capitalism. Netizens concluded that the protestors had to face the consequences of their own actions.

According to a report by the New York Post, Seven Circles stated that the protest was meant to bring attention to:

"Capitalism’s inability to address climate's ecological breakdown"

The group also stated that they were against the commodification of the Burning Man festival, which is seen as a celebration of art, creativity, and self-expression. Seven Circles detailed that they were not happy with the festival's rise in popularity among the wealthy, who do not live by the Burning Man festival's values.