US President Joe Biden reprimanded a man who interrupted his speech to call for greater climate protection during a speech on democracy. “If you keep your mouth shut, we will meet with you right after this,” Biden said Thursday in Tempe, Arizona.

Biden was in Tempe to remember Senator John McCain, who died in 2018. During his speech, he was interrupted by a man who asked Biden why he had not yet declared a climate emergency, “because hundreds of people in Arizona had already died.”

Biden asked the man to remain silent, but invited him to have a conversation after the speech.

Arizona is experiencing extreme and prolonged heat. Last week, local authorities in the capital, Phoenix, announced that at least 289 people have died this year as a direct result of successive suffocating heat waves. That number could increase significantly as another 262 deaths are currently under investigation for possible weather-related reasons.

‘Democracy in danger’
The president warned in his speech that democracy is in danger. He referred several times to former President Donald Trump and extremist Republicans. “There is an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy: the Maga movement,” Biden said. Maga represents Trump’s campaign slogan: “Make America Great Again.”

The activist posted a video of the action on X, formerly Twitter. “My conscience forced me to interrupt your speech today to ask you why you have not yet declared a climate emergency,” he wrote. The man said he would have liked to meet with Biden, but the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the president, and police allegedly escorted him from the location.

The White House considered a climate emergency last year when the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which also includes broad climate protection measures, was temporarily suspended in the US Congress. Climate activists argue that an emergency ordinance could serve as a legal basis to block, for example, oil and gas drilling. (AP)