Extinction Rebellion protest: Activists bring parts of London to standstill and daub bank with paint
Campaigners target London’s financial institutions over fossil fuel investments
Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists have blocked roads in parts of London, as they gathered to demand action on the climate crisis.
The campaigners, staging a fifth day of protests that are due to last another week, target London’s financial institutions, starting with a ‘blood money’ march.
The “Impossible Rebellion” organisers called for a halt to all investment in fossil fuels, which emit damaging greenhouse gases when burnt.
Protesters in city suits daubed the famous Guildhall in the City of London in red paint, and splashed it on buildings including Standard Chartered bank and outside the London Stock Exchange.
Tonight, the group blocked Queen Victoria Street close to Bank Station with bamboo structures.
Paint daubed on bank
Demonstrators have daubed the outside of Standard Chartered bank in the City of London with red paint and handprints.
There were chants of “Extinction Rebellion - the people united will never be defeated”.
‘Blood money’ march against fossil fuel investment
Extinction Rebellion supporters descended on the Bank of England in the City of London from midday, calling for an end to investment in fossil fuels.
In what they termed a “blood money” march, the crowds carrying banners saying “People before profit” walked through streets, stopping traffic, and daubed Guildhall in red paint.
The group said they had only just started to disrupt the City of London.
Police arrest two demonstrators
Police arrested and led away two people in handcuffs.
“Go to hell, Shell,” said one man arrested. A woman was grabbed by police trying to open a bag of red ‘bloody’ water, writes reporter Celine Wadhera.
Guildhall gets fake blood
UK banks ninth-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, research finds
A report earlier this year by Greenpeace UK and WWF claimed that UK banks and asset managers financed 805 million tonnes of damaging carbon dioxide in 2019, which would make the City of London the ninth-biggest emitter of CO2 in the world if it were a country – ranked higher than Germany.
The Independent’s James Moore has previously argued banks need to do more:
The City is urging climate action but its banks need to do more
Fake blood thrown at Capita HQ
There was applause from XR supporters as fake blood was spilled on the pavement outside the offices of Capita in the City of London.
Police appeared to arrest one woman.
XR action ‘a modest response to death and destruction’
A lobby group that works to “create a more just and equal world” has defended Extinction Rebellion’s direct action against financial institutions as “a legitimate non-violent political tactic”, calling it “a modest response to the death and destruction fuelled by the City”.
Daniel Willis, campaigns and policy manager at Global Justice Now, said: “It is heartening to see Extinction Rebellion highlight the role of the City of London in bankrolling climate chaos.
“Direct action is a legitimate nonviolent political tactic - and a modest response to the death and destruction fuelled by the City.
“Whether it’s financing fossil fuels, using trade rules to remove environmental protections, or demanding debt repayments that prevent the global south from investing in climate adaptation, these corporations and financial institutions are deeply embedded in the root cause of the climate crisis - our global economic system.”
Hundreds throng streets demanding action on fossil fuels
Paris targets ‘slipping beyond reach'
The reason the rebels are calling for action is the increasing urgency over tackling the climate crisis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in a report earlier this month that the target for limiting global heating set out in the Paris Agreement - of limiting global warming to well below 2C - is slipping beyond reach.
According to its most comprehensive assessment yet, some of the effects of warming, such as global sea level rises, could be “irreversible for centuries to millennia”.
14 ways to fight climate crisis after ‘Code Red’ IPCC report warning
UK government complicit in Bolsonaro’s assault on Amazon, say MPs
A cross-party group of MPs have accused the government of being complicit in Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s assault on the Amazon rainforest.
In a letter shared with The Independent, the politicians call on Mr Bolsonaro to urgently “abandon [his] assault on the Amazon, its people, and the future of our planet” amid escalating levels of deforestation and harassment of indigenous groups in Brazil.
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