*Hands Across the Sand* International Beach Protest Includes Street Theater in City

Activists concerned about the close ties between Big Oil and Big Banks protested at a branch of JP Morgan/Chase Bank in Palo Alto today. Members of the Raging Grannies, A New Way Forward, and the Sierra Club and other environmental groups gathered at noon in front of the busy bank branch in the area of Palo Alto known as Midtown.

Demonstrators held signs pointing out that JP Morgan Chase got $25 billion in government bailout money and they grease the wheels for British Petroleum (BP).

Chase is the chief depository bank for BP, which means that Chase essentially handles all the stock services and payouts for BP, and is the main financial institution greasing the wheels for the BP executives. Chase holds 27.74% of total ordinary issued shared capital.

Ruth Robertson, National Organizer, A New Way Forward said, "Wall Street and the large banks brought down their full weight to do away with any serious financial reform. The Financial Reform Bill recently merged by the House and Senate was weakened by banks including JP Morgan Chase that took taxpayer money because they were deemed too big to fail."

Gail Sredanovic of the Raging Grannies said, "Chase Bank's ties to BP was the reason we protested in front of Chase today, on an international day of action against offshore drilling organized by Hands Across the Sand."