Extinction Rebellion holds Hyde Park rally to mark 'pause' in protests

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/25/extinction-rebellion-holds-hyde-park-rally-to-mark-pause-in-protests

Version 0 of 1.

Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists have gathered at Hyde Park Corner in London to mark a pause in the protests that have gripped London for more than a week and are preparing to take the fight back to local communities.

Climate protesters targeted the city’s financial hub on Thursday to highlight the role the sector plays in climate change. The environmental group said it was the last day of action before it would stop this stage of its campaign of peaceful mass civil disobedience, following protests in which hundreds of people were arrested and thousands of police officers deployed to sites occupied by the group.

The closing ceremony started with emotional speeches to congratulate protesters for bringing the issue of climate change back on to the political agenda. Skeena Rathor, a Labour councillor from Stroud, Gloucestershire, told the crowd: “This is our pause ceremony. Welcome to the beginning of our pause. We invite all you wonderful people to rest, to rejuvenate … and reflect on all you’ve achieved.”

A group of protesters, dressed in red robes and with their faces painted white, circled the crowd. There was music and poetry, with one group of performers calling on the crowd to “honour the Mother Earth”.

Sinoed Eirian, a 21-year-old student, said she was moved by what she had seen during the week, adding: “[This is] not the ending, but the beginning.”

Alan Woodward, a 45-year-old gardener, said he had been working eight to 10 hours a day and joining the protest in the evenings for the past week. “I’m not so fearful of standing up for what I believe in any more,” he said.

The final day of action kicked off early, with protesters glueing themselves on to the front and back entrances of the London Stock Exchange at 6.40am. Activists were wearing LED signs saying “Climate emergency”, “Tell the truth” and “You can’t eat money”.

An hour later, five demonstrators in east London climbed on top of a train at Canary Wharf holding signs including “business as usual = death” and “don’t jail the canaries”, in what the group said was a reference to “the financial sector’s role in our collective suicide”. Among them was Phil Kingston, 83, who had previously chained 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 they would be most affected by ecological collapse. “Everything is going to have to shift,” he said.

The protest resulted in minor delays on the DLR. Officers from British Transport Police used ropes and ladders to remove the protesters. Kingston, who added it was his birthday, was arrested alongside four other demonstrators.

The protest followed similar action on Wednesday last week in which Cathy Eastburn, 51, from south London, Mark Ovland, 35, from Somerton in Somerset, and Luke Watson, 29, from Manuden in Essex, were remanded in custody until their trial in May, after they were charged with obstructing trains or carriages on the railway by an unlawful act, contrary to section 36 of the Malicious Damage Act 1861.

Savannah, 20, a student said: “After the last DLR action the state used its power to put people in prison on remand and in response we have to escalate – not back down.”

More than 300 demonstrators then split into groups of 10 to stop traffic in moving protests across the City of London to highlight the role of the finance industry in fuelling climate change.

The road blockades were brief until a group obstructed the road outside Goldman Sachs and refused to move, bringing traffic on Fleet Street to a standstill for several hours. A dozen protesters lay on the floor and connected their arms with tubes, blocking up to 30 buses and several cars.

As activists were arrested and taken away one by one, they were serenaded by a samba band. One of its members – Brooke Tate, 25, a painter and musician – said Extinction Rebellion had created a warm, inclusive community. “You never feel alone, you feel part of a community. If this carried on, eventually all of London will join in.”

The protest was then taken to the Treasury where seven activists glued themselves to each other in front of the entrance. Among them was 17-year-old Belle Lewis, a sixth-form student who has been on several student strikes this year. She said: “I just don’t think the government have realised the urgency of the situation … I don’t understand why it’s not the most important issue. We are facing a sixth mass extinction.”

She said she was drawn to the protest for a simple reason. “I’m here out of love. I love people as I love the world and I want it to prosper.”