Pedaling Protest Takes on Car Show


The Chicago Tribune reports:
 

Dressed as polar bears and Santa Claus and towing signs that read "True Patriots Don’t Burn Oil" and "Be a Hero: Drive Less," a group of bicyclists gathered Saturday in front of McCormick Place to protest the Chicago Auto Show.

"We feel there are enough cars in Chicago," said Dan Korn, a lead organizer. "You can’t get away from the sights, smells and sounds. And here comes the auto show glorifying it."

And it looks like the protesters have good reason to be outraged.  The Auto Spectator reports:

Shell Oil Products US announced today that it will add to the heart-racing excitement of the 2007 Chicago Auto Show by giving away $10,000 in free gas.

  • “giving away $10,000 in free gas”
    Rough calculation: they are giving away 80,000 pounds (40 tons) of carbon dioxide emissions.

  • ddartley

    Well done, our Chicagoan brothers and sisters!

    (although I hope they drew more participants than just the clever-costume-crowd)

  • Auto Shutdown has a website: http://autoshowshutdown.org/

  • Ah, never mind — I see you already link to it….

  • m.

    Yeah, I would have liked to have seen that at the Detroit show in Jan.

    Those people would have been lynched.

  • bluejay

    I love when people get violent about cars. It helps to prove the point that cars are intrinsically violent.

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