A peaceful action quickly erupted into conflict today at the U.N. Conference on Climate Change when Nia Robinson of the U.S.-based Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative was escorted from an official event of the U.S. delegation because a can of Spam "could be used as a weapon".

Robinson and her fellow members of the EJCC Youth Committee were on-hand to deliver Climate Change Survival Packs to U.S. delegates at the delegation's presentation on public-private partnerships. The Climate Change Survival Packs contain symbolic items that represent a variety of ways for Indigenous Peoples, people of color, and low-income to protect themselves from the continuing burdens of climate change, including: a face mask (air pollution), lantern (increasing electricity prices for low-income people), bug spray (increased presence of disease-carrying insects), sunscreen (heat waves), cans of Spam (threats to the subsistence of Indigenous Peoples), and a life preserver (floods).

After being surrounded and questioned as to her intentions by five UN police officers, Robinson was barred from re-entering the Bay du Nord briefing room where the U.S. delegation was convening.
"My requested removal is another sign that our government wants to continue its policies of operating bilaterally and behind closed doors," said Robinson, a native of Detroit, Mich. "The 'public' in their 'public-private partnerships' fails to include the people most affected by climate change."

One officer threatened to confiscate the camera of a reporter who was documenting the event. A high-level U . S . official referred to the event as "childish and pathetic."

And in other news...they have also now banned all politcial pins and patches from the conference center.

"One guard said that it's probably at the insistence of the US, as all the buttons criticize the Bush administration. For a nation that is not even a party to Kyoto, it doesn't seem to make much sense that they should have a say in what international NGO delegates can wear. Free speech doesn't end at the conference gates!" said youth delegate Steve Schwartz on itsgettinghotinhere.org