Press
This is the official source for Extinction Rebellion UK news,
press releases, updates, images & videos.
Email: press@extinctionrebellion.uk
Phone: +44(0)7756136396
Ffos-Y-Fran Four charges dropped after ‘illegal coal mine’ fails to cooperate with court
The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped all charges against the four Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists who blockaded the entrance to the UK’s largest open-cast coal mine, last summer with a pink boat. While removing the immediate burden of legal confrontation for the defendants, the decision has left a “crater of unfinished business” in the fight for climate justice and accountability for local residents.
Extinction Rebellion sends ‘message from the heart’ to global insurance leaders
Hundreds of top insurance bosses were sent an ultimatum by letter yesterday as Extinction Rebellion gears up to join a week of protests in the City of London and in towns and cities across the UK and across the world Thousands of activists from XR and other organisations and movements are expected to flood into the City from Monday to demand leading insurers pull the plug on the fossil fuel crooks by refusing to insure new and existing oil, gas and coal projects and infrastructure.
House of Commons lobby targeted by Extinction Rebellion to protest against UK’s role in violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo
What are the dangerous and shadowy links between the UK Government’s Rwanda flights and a heartbreaking war over resources in Africa that is also fuelling the climate crisis and destroying vital ecosystems? Today Extinction Rebellion activists answered that complex question as they staged a protest in the House of Commons pretending to hold guns to their heads and unfurling a banner saying: ‘STOP FUNDING RWANDA WAR IN D.R. CONGO.’
Love means…stop insuring climate chaos
“Roses are red, violets are blue. Stop insuring fossil fuel crooks or we’ll come after you.” Extinction Rebellion issues a Valentine’s Day warning that insurance industry firms will be targeted by escalating protest and disruption from February 26 unless they stop greenlighting fossil fuel projects setting the planet on fire. XR are staging four days of protests from February 27 as participants in the Insure Our Future Global Week of Action. Chidi Obihara of Extinction Rebellion said: “Just 20 companies insure 70% of fossil fuel projects. Many of these companies are based in the City of London, or in cities and towns across the UK. Thousands of us will pay them a visit during our week of actions to convince them to abandon the oil, gas and coal industry completely."
Three trials of people who took action to defend lives to begin next week
On Monday 19th February trials start for people who broke glass at the world’s worst bank, stopped traffic on M25 and occupied tunnels to stop fossil fuel expansion and protect lives. The trials take place just a week after we learned that the ‘safe’ limit for global heating has been breached for a whole year for the first time, and a week after the one year anniversary of Just Stop Oil supporter who took his life just weeks after being sentenced by Judge Reid. The trials take place as the government attempts to strip legal defences from people facing trial in civil disobedience cases.
Science Museum event targeted by Extinction Rebellion and Greta Thunberg over fossil fuel sponsors
Protesters from XR including doctors and scientists targeted a panel debate organised by the Science Museum on scientific predictions for 2024. They were joined by climate activist Greta Thunberg who had just left the first day of her trial at Westminster Magistrates court. For the duration of the event an GP stood next to the panellists in silence, holding a banner saying “2024 – MORE DROUGHTS, FLOODS AND DEATHS FUELLED BY SCIENCE MUSEUM OIL AND COAL SPONSORS”. From the audience Greta challenged the museum’s Science Director, Roger Highfield, about Adani’s sponsorship of the Energy Revolution gallery due to open this spring.
Greta Thunberg joins protest against Farnborough Airport expansion to demand ban on private jets
Climate activist Greta Thunberg is joining local residents, Extinction Rebellion activists and climate change campaigners outside Farnborough Airport today (27 January) to protest against plans to increase private jet flights from 50,000 to 70,000 a year. The protesters are also calling for a total ban on private jets, which are up to 30 times more polluting than passenger airliners.
Climate defenders gather at Parliament to resist UK Government’s ‘deadly’ new oil and gas bill
Breaking: This morning, Fossil Free London, Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion and Scientists for Extinction Rebellion supporters staged a demonstration to resist the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which is having its second reading at the House of Commons.
Extinction Rebellion co-founder walks free from court for breaking government windows
Extinction Rebellion co-founder Dr Gail Bradbrook walked from court today (Monday) after being given a suspended jail sentence for criminal damage. Her sentence highlighted the ‘legal lottery’ facing climate activists who are defying a concerted campaign by government and judges to silence them.
Barclays banks superglued shut in nationwide action against climate criminals
Barclays' branches across the UK encountered a sticky situation this morning (27th November), as staff arrived to discover climate activists from Extinction Rebellion sister organisation Money Rebellion and allied groups had glued the doors shut at almost 50 branches.
Rowan Williams, Emma Thompson, Ben Okri, Brian Eno, Es Devlin, Sir David King, Prof. James Hansen sign open letter in support of HSBC 9
Public figures from across the arts, climate science, the economy, faith and more have signed an open letter in support of 9 women who were acquitted last week for breaking windows at HSBC’s HQ in Canary Wharf in 2021. The signatories are calling for the bank to be held accountable for their enormous fossil fuel investments: over £80 billion pounds in the 5 years after the Paris Climate Agreement was signed. "The world stands ablaze in front of us yet, as the case of these women shows, it is not illegal for banks such as HSBC to profit from destroying life on Earth. With billions invested in fossil fuels in the five years since the Paris Climate Agreement, we can’t help but wonder how many deaths these billions will have caused already? Why do such heinous crimes continue to go unpunished?”
Jury finds women who broke HSBC windows ‘not guilty’
In a decision which vindicates the actions of nine women who broke the windows of Europe’s second largest investor in fossil fuels, HSBC, a jury at Southwark Crown Court today returned a verdict of ‘not guilty’ after just two hours deliberating. Celebrated British fashion designer Stella McCartney CBE, who designed the clothing for Team GB in the London 2012 Olympics, dressed the HSBC 9 women for court, lending them shirts, blazers and suits to wear during the trial. The verdict came after a three week trial, where just over half a million pounds worth of damage by the nine women was set against the £80 billion of fossil fuels investments by HSBC in the five years following the Paris Climate Agreement, when over 195 nations pledged to keep global temperatures below 1.5 degrees.