By Kevin Murphy
May 15 (Reuters) - Dozens of people were arrested inWashington state on Sunday, two days after protesters set up ablockade on railroad tracks leading to a pair of oil refineriesas part of a global protest over dependence on fossil fuels,authorities said.
The protesters, camping out on BNSF Railway tracks at Anacortes, Washington, about 70 miles (113 km) northof Seattle, refused police orders to disperse, said KatieMcCulloch, a spokesman for the Skagit County Department ofEmergency Management.
All of the 52 protesters under arrest were charged withtrespassing, while one person was also charged with resistingarrest, according a statement on the department's website. Noinjuries were reported.
Billed as Break Free 2016, the protests on six continentsare part of a 12-day campaign to call attention to climatechange and to demand a transition to clean energy, according tothe organization's website.
"Break Free is about pressuring the system so we get thechange we need, but it's also about imagining an alternative,"said Ahmed Gaya, an organizer for Break Free Pacific Northwest.
About 150 people began demonstrating on Friday night inAnacortes on tracks leading to Tesoro Corp and RoyalDutch Shell refineries. Tesoro spokeswoman DestinSingleton said operations at the refinery were not affected.
The protesters had about 40 tents on the rail property, saidBNSF spokesman Gus Melonas. The rail line was shut down duringthe protests but reopened on Sunday, he said.
"We are happy for them to voice their opinion but we askthem to do it off railroad property," he said.
Law enforcement officers and BNSF railway police went on tothe tracks at about 5 a.m. PDT (1200 GMT) to remove theprotesters, Melonas said.
Some protesters remained in the area after the arrests,though not on the tracks, McCulloch said. Some were in kayaksand in canoes on nearby waterways, she said.
In Albany, New York, about 1,500 people gathered on Saturdayto protest against trains carrying crude oil into the Port ofAlbany, said Aly Johnson-Kurts, a spokeswoman for Break FreeAlbany.
The Break Free website on Sunday said the Albany protest wascompleted but that protests were underway in Chicago near an oilrefinery and in Washington D.C., where the group is askingPresident Barack Obama to stop offshore oil drilling in theArctic, the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. (Reporting By Kevin Murphy in Kansas City Additional reportingby Curtis Skinner; Editing by Alan Crosby)
