For Immediate Release :
March 12, 2002 NOON

Citibank
6 St. Paul Street
Baltimore, MD

Radical Cheerleaders Invade Baltimore CitiBank
Students Spotlight Citigroup's Environmentally and Socially Destructive Investments

Baltimore, MD. Activists dressed as radical cheerleaders invaded and briefly occupied the St Paul Street Citibank in a raucous protest this afternoon in protest of the bank's environmentally and socially destructive investment policies. The student are demanding that Citibank's parent company, Citigroup, the largest U.S. financial institution, stop investing in projects which help fuel climate change, such as new fossil fuel development and the destruction of the world's last remaining old growth forests. The students want CitiGroup shift its investments to more environmentally beneficial projects, such as financing solar power.

"As one of the world's largest financial institution, Citigroup has a responsibility to address the environmental and social impacts of its investments and establish policies that protect the world's old growth forests and the communities that rely on them for survival," said Lucas Hauser of Goucher College Earthworks.

CitiGroup is the top funder of new oil, gas and mining projects around the world. Through lending, underwriting, mutual funds and funding government politics, CitiGroup profits off projects that destroy fragile ecosystems, accelerate global warming and displace communities. These controversial projects include the OCP Pipeline in Ecuador, funding for palm oil plantations in critical orangutan habitat in Indonesia, the Camisea Gas Project in Peru and a pipeline through the Orinoco Delta in Venezuela.

The radical cheerleaders entered the Citibank at noon disrupting the business and educating customers with performances of cheers such as "Hey Citi you're so blind, you're so blind, you're so blind you blow my mind. Hey Citi!' shouted the radical cheerleaders erratically dressed in short skirts and florescent tights to the tune the Bangle's 80's hit "Hey Micky!"

Contacts:

Rob Fish, Rainforest Action Network, 207-266-4802 on site
Mark Von Topel, Powershift, 202-210-0979 on site
Lucas Hauser, Earthworks, 410- 769-4308
Ilyse Hogue, Rainforest Action Network, 415-398-4404