Just before noon on Saturday, about 200 people filed quietly onto the shores on Navarre Beach, trudging past surfers, sunbathers and sand castle-builders, forming a human chain and drawing a literal – and metaphorical – line in the sand to protest offshore drilling.

The event, aptly titled "Hands Across the Sand," drew thousands of participants in roughly 900 locations in 33 countries across the globe, including all 50 states in the U.S., all uniting in peaceful opposition to a topic that has become a hot-button issue since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April.

Event organizer Mandy Evers said previous endeavors drew meager crowds but that this time was different.

 

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