Daniel Bethencourt

Detroit Free Press

As Flint’s water crisis reached a new national spotlight this week, director and Flint native Michael Moore held a rally in the city on Saturday, where he accused government leaders of intentionally poisoning thousands of people.

“This is not a mistake,” Moore said of the crisis. “Ten people have been killed here because of a political decision. They did this. They knew.”

Moore was swarmed by media and about 200 residents, and could barely make himself heard with no microphone as protesters angrily chanted about the dismal state of the city’s water.

“There are people who are very angry here, because their lives are at risk,” he said over the shouts. “They should be angry. We are all angry.”

Flint's drinking water became contaminated with lead after the city in 2014 temporarily switched its supply source from Lake Huron water treated by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to more corrosive and polluted Flint River water, treated at the Flint water treatment plant.

President Obama declares emergency in Flint

The switch was made as a cost-cutting move while the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager. The state Department of Environmental Quality has acknowledged a mistake in failing to require the addition of needed corrosion control chemicals to the water. That caused lead, which causes brain damage and other health problems in children, to leach into the water from pipes and fixtures.

Residents' complaints about the taste, odor and appearance of the water, which began immediately after the switch, were largely ignored by state officials.

Moore spent much of his speech calling for more emergency personnel and more funding, while dishing out blame to local and state officials. But he also demanded that President Barack Obama visit Flint while stopping by the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Wednesday. Moore said that if Obama would not, the crisis could haunt his presidency.

Just hours before the rally on Saturday, Obama declared a state of emergency in Flint, meaning that federal aid will be made available. He did not go as far as to declare a federal disaster, which typically is reserved for natural disasters, and not man-made crises.

That announcement follows a flurry of new details about the full depth of the crisis, which is still being understood. Days earlier, Flint-area pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who forced the state to acknowledge Flint’s lead problem, declared that all of the city’s children under 6 should be treated as exposed. That number is 8,657 children, based on U.S. Census data. The impacts of lead are considered most severe on the developing brains and nervous systems of children and fetuses.

And on Wednesday, Gov. Rick Snyder announced that the Flint area saw a spike in Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, around the time the city switched its water source — a spike in illness that proved fatal for 10 people. Officials did not confirm the water switch had to do with the spike, but a drinking water expert has said there was very likely a connection.

The situation has drawn rebukes from Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has said there is “no excuse” for the crisis, and from Bernie Sanders, who had similar statements and said Flint residents “deserve more than an apology.”

Cher donates bottled water to Flint

In response to the intense criticism, Snyder said at a news conference Wednesday: “We’re taking every action within reason, and going beyond reason to address this,” he said. He also said, “This is something you wish that never happened, and let’s see that it never happens again in the state of Michigan.”

At the protest on Saturday, Moore also pinned the city’s water conditions on governmental neglect because of the city’s income level and racial makeup.

“They would never do this to West Bloomfield,” he said. “They would never do this to Ann Arbor. They would never do this to Farmington Hills. Let’s call this what it is. It’s not just a water crisis. It’s a racial crisis. It’s a poverty crisis... That’s what created this.”

Contact Daniel Bethencourt: 313-223-4531 or dbethencourt@freepress.com. Follow on Twitter at @_dbethencourt. Staff writer Todd Spangler contributed to this report.

Fund established for Flint children