One shining moment: Bill McKibben speaks at tar sand demonstration that ends when protesters allegedly get pepper sprayed for trying to disrupt the travel of dignitaries who (as it turns out) weren't even there

LiveLeak.com - Peaceful Protest Turns Violent in Burlington, VT (Includes 2 Raw Videos)

Burlington Police Lt. Art Cyr, who had monitored the earlier demonstration and who had expressed relief then there had been “no incidents,” said protesters ignored police orders to clear the driveway. He said three individuals were identified who may be charged later with disorderly conduct.
...Brian Tokar of East Montpelier said the demonstrators had blocked the driveway because they saw the buses coming and word spread the governors and premiers were being bused out....
During the earlier, peaceful portion of the demonstration, environmental writer and activist Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org, an international climate control organization, told the crowd this is “a hinge moment in human history.”

He pointed to crop devastation this year across the center of the country from drought and about meager monsoons this year in India, and said that while he had begun a quarter of a century ago to write about potential environmental collapse, “There is (now) nothing abstract about any of this,” he said...
A broad coalition of environmental groups, including 350.org, the National Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation and others converged in Burlington Sunday to alert the public, they said, to plans by the Canadian pipeline company Enbridge, Inc. to reverse oil flow in Enbridge Line 9 and the Portland/Montreal pipeline and run tar sand oil to Portland, Maine’s Casco Bay for shipment.
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Bob Klotz, the state coordinator of 350 Maine, said about 70 people from the Maine group made the drive over for Sunday’s demonstration. The goal?
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“It’s ironic,” he told the Free Press. “None of the dignitaries were here. That’s what’s so frustrating.” He did not explain why police had not told the demonstrators that.