Hayward Feels Protesters’ Heat in DC

ABC's Andy Miller reports from Washington D.C.: A few dozen protesters gathered this afternoon in the shadow of BP’s headquarters in Washington to make themselves heard and deliver a prison jumpsuit to CEO Tony Hayward, who has become the public face of the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf.  But no one from BP came to accept the donation.  In fact, throughout the demonstration just steps outside the office building’s front door, and during an earlier rally in a park across the street, there was not a single sign of activity in BP’s 7th floor offices. Rally organizers carrying the prison garb received little help from the voice on the other end of a security call box outside the high-rise, so cameras followed as they ushered themselves inside and to the lobby’s front door – but security allowed them no further.  As it became apparent to demonstrators and reporters that BP would not be accepting the matching black-and-white striped shirt and pants, one rally leader turned and shouted over the chanting outside, “BP is a criminal and they must be prosecuted!  And we have to deliver [Hayward's] pajamas!” Back outside, the high summer sun and rising temperatures did nothing to sap the crowd’s energy or quiet its noise.  Drums and a bullhorn led chants of, “Hayward!  What do you say?  How many people did you poison today?” and, “BP!  They’re big polluters! BP! They’re big polluters!” Signs were carried up and down the sidewalk, showing Mr. Hayward’s likeness and bearing the BP logo covered in oil, and a 13-foot inflatable oil barrel stood in the park just across the street.  One woman poured chocolate syrup over a toy duck she held in her hand, re-creating the images of oil-covered birds in the Gulf that news outlets have been showing this week. When asked what brought her out, Kimberlee Dinn said, “There were shortcuts made, and corners cut, and profits put ahead of livelihoods.”  Diana Best made the trip to downtown Washington from Denver to be heard, “It’s our coastline.  It’s our brothers and sisters down in the Gulf who are having to deal with this, and while B.P. executives sit in their office and lobby Capitol Hill.  It’s unacceptable, it’s inexcusable.  We need answers and we need them quick.”