Two climate protesters were arrested inside the Moynihan Train Hall on Thursday after they spray-painted the glass exterior of the nearby Meta offices.
The incident unfolded at around 11:30 a.m. on July 24, with two men from the activist group Extinction Rebellion NYC using spray cans to scrawl Meta office windows with the words “Zuck Loves Trump, “Meta Makes Kings,” and “Zuck Fcks Climate” — references to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook.
One of the men decried the company for ruining the earth’s water supply before dumping a jug of water over his own head and splashing it over the entranceway.
Rattled security personnel immediately dialed 911, prompting MTA police to rush to the scene and placed both men in handcuffs without further incident.
Extinction Rebellion railed against Meta, stating that the company’s pursuit of AI dominance is accelerating global emissions and deepening ecological instability. Greg Schwedock, one of the protesters who was involved in the spray painting, bemoaned Zuckerberg and his influence.
“Mark Zuckerberg and the class of CEO’s he belongs to know full well the impacts their businesses have on our planet. Why else would he have built a bunker island in the middle of the ocean? They will pay the price of change today socially, or tomorrow existentially. We are hoping to force the first option, for life on Earth,” Schwedock said.
The activists also pointed to a study by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries that grimly predicts that this century could see up to 4 billion climate-related deaths.
They also bashed Meta for failing to push back against the Trump administration, which has put the climate crisis on the back burner.
“The hypocrisy is staggering. Trillion-dollar firms built on innovation, companies we all rely on, are now quietly bankrolling a regime that’s dismantling democracy, gutting climate action, and widening inequality. And it’s the very people who made them rich-users, workers, the public-who are left to pay the price,” said Will Regan, another activist who took part in the vandalism.
amNewYork reached out to Meta and is awaiting a response.
