Climate change activists have glued themselves to the London Stock Exchange, in protest against the role of the finance industry in fuelling climate change.
Extinction Rebellion plan to cause rush-hour disruption in London’s financial district before they bring an end their climate “rebellion” that has led to protesters occupying sites across London for more than a week.
On Thursday morning, 13 protesters attached themselves the front and back entrances of London Stock Exchange and were said to be preventing people from entering. They wore LED signs reading: “Climate emergency”, “Tell the truth” and “You can’t eat money”. Police are in attendance, but no arrests have been made, according to the group.
At Canary Wharf, at least four protesters climbed on top of a train on the Docklands Light Railway holding signs saying “don’t jail the canaries” and “business as usual = death”, in what the group said was a reference to “the financial sector’s role in our collective suicide”. A number of police officers are at the scene.
It follows a similar action this month after which three people were remanded in custody until their trial in May.
Among the protesters at Canary Wharf was Phil Kingston, an 83-year-old grandfather who has been involved in multiple direct action protests. One of the first members of Extinction Rebellion, he gained notoriety after chaining himself to a pipe in Oxford Circus.
“Like all parents and grandparents, I want a future,” he said. He expressed his concern over the impact of climate change on the poorest people, arguing that they would be most impacted by ecological collapse. “Everything is going to have to shift,” he added, eating his sandwich on top of the train.
Diana Warner, 60, a retired GP, had superglued herself to the train. She said: “I’ve done it because, what else can I do? I want to speak up for all of our children. I also want to speak up for those who are losing their land now, and those who aren’t able to get enough food.”
The protest follows on from last week’s action, when three activists were put on remand for a month over after climbing on top of a train at Canary Wharf station in east London.
Cathy Eastburn, 51, from south London, Mark Ovland, 35, from Somerton in Somerset, and Luke Watson, 29, from Manuden in Essex, were charged with obstructing trains or carriages on the railway by an unlawful act, contrary to section 36 of the Malicious Damage Act 1861, over the protest on Wednesday that halted DLR services.
Police had detached Warner and arrested her. When asked whether she was scared of also being put in remand for a long period of time, Warner said no. “It made it more necessary to be here. We are part of them and they are part of us. We all need to survive. Some people can see it, understand it, and feel with compassion that we need to prevent more death and catastrophe, but there are many who don’t.”
The climate “rebellion” to highlight the escalating global ecological crisis will draw to a voluntary close with a “closing ceremony” and a day of disruption in which demonstrators plan to swarm into the Square Mile to cause roadblocks, targeting big business and banking.
Extinction Rebellion@ExtinctionR
BREAKING: Time for MONEY to tell the truth on its role on the Climate and Ecological Emergency
Extinction Rebellion UK is hitting the financial industry today to demand they tell the truth about the devastating impact the industry has on our planet. #lse #rebelforlife
On Wednesday, protesters in London agreed to remove blockades and campsites at Marble Arch and Parliament Square.
Extinction Rebellion, which has been backed by senior academics, politicians and scientists during nine days of peaceful mass civil disobedience, said its action in the City of London was likely to last a few hours, and comes on the day it is due to end blockades at Parliament Square and Marble Arch.
The group said in a statement that it would leave its remaining blockades on Thursday, but added: “The world has changed … A space for truth-telling has been opened up.
“Now it is time to bring this telling of the truth to communities around London, the regions and nations of the UK, and internationally. In this age of misinformation, there is power in telling the truth.”
The group said it would like to “thank Londoners for opening their hearts and demonstrating their willingness to act on that truth”.
The statement added: “We know we have disrupted your lives. We do not do this lightly. We only do this because this is an emergency.”
The activists said protesters had “taken to the streets and raised the alarm” in more than 80 cities in 33 countries. “People are talking about the climate and ecological emergency in ways that we never imagined,” they said.
The group said it would work to build up a resilient movement to force politicians to address the climate crisis, and further direct action protests may take place as soon as the coming days.
The move came as it emerged that the environment secretary, Michael Gove, had agreed to the meet representatives of the group. A spokesperson for XR said this was “totally unconnected” to its decision to end the current phase of the protest, adding that the meeting was under consideration.
“It may or may not go ahead, depending on the details of how public it is and who will be attending,” they said.
Support for Extinction Rebellion has quadrupled in the past nine days as public concern about the scale of the ecological crisis grows.
Since the protests began last Monday, 30,000 new backers or volunteers have offered support to the group. In the same period, it has raised almost £200,000 – mostly in small donations of between £10 and £50 – making a total of £365,000 since January.
The group said the figures showed the public was waking up to the scale of the crisis, adding that pressure was growing on politicians to act.
The group said numbers of people on the streets for the protests had dwindled from a high over the Easter bank holiday weekend, but the number of people who had signed up to offer ongoing support and backing for future demonstrations had risen from 10,000 before the protest to 40,000 by Wednesday morning.
The decision to call a halt to the protests came a day after Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish student who inspired a global youth-based movement when she began a “climate strike” outside Sweden’s parliament last year, visited Westminster.
In a speech to MPs, she said: “You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to. You don’t listen to the science because you are only interested in solutions that will enable you to carry on like before.”
The Guardian
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