CHICAGO— Roughly 20 activists disrupted the Democratic National Committee's meeting in Chicago Thursday, protesting the party's recent reversal on a measure that would have banned donations from fossil fuel companies.

The protesters interrupted the Resolutions Committee, which is responsible for striking down the original ban. The demonstration, organized by the Sunrise Movement, a climate organization dedicated to engaging young voters, comes after the DNC passed a resolution earlier this month saying it “support[s] fossil fuel workers” and will accept donations from their employers' PACs.

Protesters' chants accused party leaders of "making it hard to breathe" and they held up banners telling the DNC to "stand with people, not corporate PACs."

DNC officials met with Sunrise Movement in D.C., said Xochitl Hinojosa, a party spokeswoman.

"We explained that the DNC stands by our platform and believes that America must be running entirely on clean energy by mid-century," Hinojosa said. "Any review of our current donations reflects that commitment, and we currently don't get fossil fuel money."

Ahead of the DNC's three-day meeting in Chicago, 21 climate groups signed a letter to Chairman Tom Perez, urging the the committee to reinstitute the ban.

"The DNC is participating in its own form of climate denial by continuing to accept contributions from fossil fuel executives, PACs, and corporations that are profiting from and responsible for this crisis while blocking the rapid and just transition to clean energy that we urgently need," the groups wrote.

"The DNC must choose: does it side with grassroots momentum and communities on the frontlines of extraction and climate impacts, or does it side with the corporations and billionaires most responsible for the crisis? It cannot do both," the letter continued.

The DNC argues that the resolution adopted two weeks ago did not reverse the ban, but reaffirms the party's "unwavering and unconditional commitment to the workers, unions and forward-looking employers that power the American economy."