![](\"https:\/\/img.rt.com\/files\/2016.05\/thumbnail\/573dc44ec46188641b8b4598.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Greenpeace activists have scaled the columns of the British Museum in central London in protest against oil giant BP\u2019s sponsorship of a new \u2018Sunken Cities\u2019 exhibition.<\/p>\n
Environmental protestors used climbing gear to scale a row of large columns at the front of the museum from which they dropped 27ft-long banners.<\/p>\n
Several of the banners carried the names of towns and cities at risk of devastation or complete loss as a result of rising sea levels linked to climate change.<\/p>\n
These included New Orleans, Manila, and the Maldives, as well as UK towns affected by severe floods, such as Boscastle and Hebden Bridge.<\/p>\n
The action was targeted at BP\u2019s sponsorship of the Sunken Cities exhibition, which tells the story of two submerged ancient Egyptian metropolises now lying beneath the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace campaigner Elena Polisano said it was a \u201cstunning irony<\/em>\u201d that an oil giant like BP now has its logo on \u201can exhibition about cities lost to rising seas<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSunken cities aren\u2019t a thing of the past, they\u2019re happening now, and if BP gets its way they will come to define our future.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhole nations like the Maldives may disappear under water due to climate change. It\u2019s damaging to the Museum\u2019s reputation to shelter BP in this way<\/em>,\u201d Polisano added.<\/p>\n Greenpeace claims the sponsorship allows BP to \u201cclean up its image<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The protest comes weeks after the Philippines launched an investigation into BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil for potential human rights violations caused by fossil fuel-driven climate change.<\/p>\n A BP spokesman said: \u201cBP has a long history as a major supporter of arts and culture in the UK and we are proud to have partnered the British Museum for 20 years, supporting significant exhibitions such as the new Sunken Cities exhibition<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The Museum is closed temporarily for visitor safety reasons due to a protest. We hope to re-open shortly. Thanks for your patience.<\/p>\n \u2014 British Museum (@britishmuseum) May 19, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n The British Museum did not comment on its relationship with BP, but said on Twitter the museum was closed \u201ctemporarily for visitor safety reasons<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n On its website, the museum describes BP as one of its \u201clongest standing corporate partners<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Via RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greenpeace activists have scaled the columns of the British Museum in central London in protest against oil giant BP\u2019s sponsorship of a new \u2018Sunken Cities\u2019 exhibition. Environmental protestors used climbing gear to scale a row of large columns at the front of the museum from which they dropped 27ft-long banners. Several of the banners carried […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-244626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire","8":"category-latest-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n