AOC gave an impromptu speech in the street because her town hall event was packed out

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stunned a crowd of people after she delivered an impassioned, impromptu speech about a proposal to turn Rikers Island into a solar energy farm.

The New York Congresswoman tweeted a video of her talking outside the Jewish Centre of Jackson Heights as the venue was full of people.

Alongside the video, she wrote: “I’m thrilled so many community members came to our #RenewableRikers town hall, but sadly some folks couldn’t make it in. So we held an impromptu session on the street.”

In the video, she talked about a proposal to turn Rikers Island into a solar energy farm in an attempt to lower emissions in the city.

“When we come together and we decide that we’re going to shut down Rikers,” she began talking to an audience.

We’re going to turn it, not into a playground for the real estate lobby and not into a playground for the rich, we’re going to transform it into a public good for all people. That is what this is about.

She went on to cite a study conducted by a professor of the island.

If you put just 25 per cent of Rikers island and cover it in solar panels, we can close every toxic power plant in New York city that was built in the last two decades.”

These injustice aren’t abstract. Our right to clean air and access to clean water always falls along lines of income, along lines of privilege.

We need to make sure that no child is subjected to asthma because of the family they were born in and the zip code they were born in.

That no person should get lead in their water because they couldn’t afford to live in a high-rise apartment.

These are not luxuries, these are rights.

Her fiery words left an impression with people online

And people who had managed to watch her speak wrote to her about how much they loved it

#RenewableRikers and #CloseRikers began trending online

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