MOUNT RUSHMORE

Activists arrested for banner

07-10-2009 | AFP

Panama Star CHICAGO. Greenpeace activists were arrested earlier this week for scaling Mount Rushmore and hanging a banner next to the carved face of Abraham Lincoln urging President Barack Obama to get tough on climate change.

Its message read: "America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming" and was hung next to an unfinished portrait of Obama.

"Doing what it takes to solve global warming demands real political courage," Greenpeace USA deputy campaigns director Carroll Muffett said in a statement.

"If President Obama intends to earn a place among this country's true leaders, he needs to show that courage, and base his actions on the scientific reality rather than political convenience."

The protest came as Obama meets with other G8 leaders in Italy.