Hundreds gather along Fort Lauderdale beach for Saturday's Hands Across the Sand event to protest offshore and near-shore drilling.
Hands Across the Sand
(Chelsea Matiash, Sun Sentinel / June 26, 2010)Performance artist Marc Montalvo, of Hollywood, puts on a show as a part of the oil spill protest at Fort Lauderdale Beach on Saturday, by dressing as oil and effects, writhing in the water and sand to convey the catastrophic effects of offshore oil drilling.
Hands Across the Sand
(Kathy Laskowski, Sun Sentinel)Hundreds gather along Fort Lauderdale beach for Saturday's Hands Across the Sand event to protest offshore and near-shore drilling.
Fort Lauderdale —
They joined hands for the children's future. They joined hands to voice dissent. They joined hands in hopes of keeping crude oil from ever marring the world's seas again.Hundreds of participants stood in unity at noon on Saturday as part of Hands Across the Sand, creating a line more than a mile long at the shore near Las Olas Boulevard. Similar gatherings took place on beaches across the world.
Cameras clicked, a person in a black body suit and hood crawled up from the shore imitating oil-drenched wildlife, and some impatient beachgoers waited for protesters to stop blocking the view of the ocean.
Organizers shouted into bullhorns, calling for renewable energy. Protesters held up signs in the hot sun with such slogans as "Suntan oil, not crude oil."
"We want a quick transformation to clean energy and true renewable energy," said organizer Matthew Schwartz, executive director of South Florida Wildlands Association. "We have the technology in this country to do that. What we lack is political will."
Hands Across the Sand was founded last year by Dave Rauschkolb, a Florida surfer and restaurant owner, to voice opposition to proposals in the Legislature to allow drilling near the coasts.
Then, on April 20, the BP spill began, resulting in images of oil-slicked animals and a black-brown blob slithering across the Gulf of Mexico.
"It's just heartbreaking that we're exposed to that," co-organizer Candide Gerber said.
Organizers and participants were pleased to see the turnout and support from passing drivers who honked horns. They were happy to be together to have their unified voice recorded.
"Sometimes it takes something bad to happen to bring people together," said Tara Klassen, 26, of Pembroke Pines.
Some beachgoers who did not plan to protest joined the cause, while others waited for it to be over.
"This reminds us of the problem, and the kids can't play," said Anthony Fontana, 37, a Sunrise resident who was there with his two children, ages 6 and 8. But he said he agreed with the cause and the protesters' right to demonstrate.
A sunbathing Salvatore Vattiato, 45, visiting from Palermo, Italy, was impressed with Americans' spirit and unity, saying such a protest would be hard to find in his country.
"I think this is a good thing," Vattiato said. "The sea is for everyone."
About 15 minutes after joining hands, the protesters parted, like a wave breaking and pulling back to sea.
Click here to see more photos of Hands Across America
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