As the gravity of the climate crisis becomes more apparent, support for those who are putting their freedom on the line to speak up is growing. In this review of media commentary we look at some articles which have voiced support for the Rebellion over the last few weeks.
During its Spring Rebellion, XR has experimented with a decisive shift in tactics, with a move away from the use of large infrastructure and a renewed focus on people power and nonviolent civil resistance with innovative targeted actions including the shut-down of Lloyd’s of London, abseilers on Tower Bridge, and the infiltration of Shell
This morning Extinction Rebellion occupied an oil tanker off Bayswater Road in London. Three people - including Olympian Etienne Stott - have climbed on top with a banner that reads “END FOSSIL FILTH”. Several people are surrounding it and holding banners that read “END FOSSIL FUELS NOW”.
A scientist who was arrested for raising the alarm on climate change went on hunger strike yesterday evening after being denied bail by police. She is also refusing water. Emma Smart, an ecologist, was detained yesterday during a protest with 24 fellow scientists at the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in London on Wednesday. Instead of being released on bail she is being held at Charing Cross Police Station waiting for a court hearing on Saturday.
Extinction Rebellion has occupied the London Headquarters of oil giant Shell to demand a meeting with CEO Ben Van Beurden. 3 people have glued themselves to the reception desk and others are glued on in the entrance outside. Outside the building, members of XR’s whistleblowing platform TruthTeller used placards to invite named employers to share insider information about the company’s planet-damaging activities.
Today at 7am, more than 60 people from Extinction Rebellion blocked the entrances at Lloyd's of London headquarters (1 Lyme St, London, UK), preventing staff from entering the building. The action aims to close the London based insurance and reinsurance giant for the day. Extinction Rebellion is demanding that Lloyd's of London stop insuring fossil fuels projects, and highlighted the Trans Mountain Pipeline extension in Canada, which they believe is being insured through the Lloyd's marketplace.
Yesterday from 10am at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, Extinction Rebellion led in a disruptive display of people power onto the streets of central London to send a message to the government and their friends in the oil and gas industry: it’s time to end fossil fuels and we’re not leaving the streets until you do.
At 7am this morning, Extinction Rebellion UK hung a large 22m x 3m banner from the suspension part of Tower Bridge in London that read ‘END FOSSIL FUELS NOW’. Two people are hanging from the bridge by suspension cords and have released red flares. The bridge is currently closed to traffic.
BREAKING: This morning at 7am on World Health Day, Doctors for Extinction Rebellion have blocked the road outside HM Treasury in London, calling for an end to the UK government's financial support for fossil fuels. Six of them locked onto oil barrels in the road, whilst others held banners saying ‘For Health’s Sake: Stop Financing Fossil Fuels’ and ‘Clean Energy, Less War”.
While Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil are holding up tankers and stopping oil refineries, the government is sitting on the energy policy it promised after the Ukraine invasion. With rising poverty, rising fuel prices, and rising fears about the future, the question of how quickly and effectively we can transition to clean energy has become urgent.