Cop21 Paris 2015: French Activists Steal Bank Chairs In Advance Of Major Climate Conference

Environmental activists in France have been staging a series of rather bizarre bank heists. They're not stealing money, but chairs. Lots of them. In a series of incidents over the last few weeks, the activists lifted 196 chairs from various bank branches.

The group responsible for the stunt -- Non Violent Action COP21 -- took the chairs for a people’s summit on climate change that it plans, the Associated Press reported. The chair heist was to protest tax evasion, which diverts money that could be used to address global warming, according to the group.

The symbolic move comes before the international conference on climate change, COP21, which will take place in Paris next month. The conference aims to get the world's nations committed to serious action on rising global temperatures.

“Money for the climate exists; it is in tax havens,” the group responsible for the protest said on its website.

While protesters lifted chairs out of one BNP Paribas branch, branch manager Cyril Hamer stood by and watched. "Let's just go with the flow and let them finish this peacefully," Hamer said, according to the AP.

The group has “reclaimed” nearly 200 chairs in a series of similar bank jobs over the past few weeks, according to activist Txetx Etcheverry. More acts of civil disobedience are likely as the conference nears.