Press - Extinction Rebellion UK

Press

Greta Thunberg joins protest against Farnborough Airport expansion to demand ban on private jets

January 27, 2024 by Extinction Rebellion

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.

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Rowan Williams, Emma Thompson, Ben Okri, Brian Eno, Es Devlin, Sir David King, Prof. James Hansen sign open letter in support of HSBC 9

November 24, 2023 by Extinction Rebellion

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?”

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Jury finds women who broke HSBC windows ‘not guilty’

November 16, 2023 by Extinction Rebellion

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.

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Empty shoes for lost lives: Extinction Rebellion’s heartbreak plea for a ceasefire in Gaza

November 11, 2023 by Extinction Rebellion

XR parents place hundreds of childrens' shoes in Trafalgar Square and call for immediate ceasefire In a moving ceremony in London’s Trafalgar Square today (Saturday), parents from Extinction Rebellion placed hundreds of empty childrens’ shoes at the world-famous landmark to represent all the young Israeli and Palestinian lives lost in the ongoing fighting.

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Dr Gail Bradbrook, Extinction Rebellion co-founder, ‘at peace’ with guilty verdict for breaking department of transport window

November 01, 2023 by Extinction Rebellion

Dr Gail Bradbrook, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, was found guilty of criminal damage today after she broke a window at the Department of Transport in October 2019. She will be sentenced on 18 December. The jury’s verdict came less than an hour after the Judge told jurors that Dr Bradbrook had no defence in law and that her motivation was not relevant. Despite being repeatedly threatened with contempt of court and a jury-only trial Dr Bradbrook would not be silenced and argued that authorities should be prosecuting the politicians and corporations causing criminal damage on a ‘planetary scale’, not the ordinary people trying to stop harm.

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Jury acquits Extinction Rebellion for Treasury Fire Engine action and Crown drops remaining trials after Judge suggests ‘not in public interest’

October 30, 2023 by Extinction Rebellion

Defendant Liam Norton, a 38-year old electrician from South London, said: “The jury’s verdict was a victory for common sense and a victory against the Treasury who, as our action highlighted, funded new fossil fuel projects abroad for five years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement. The Treasury continues to be complicit in mass death and suffering from climate breakdown by financing the development of new oil and gas fields in the North Sea including Rosebank. This ensures we can never keep within safe climate limits. This trial was never in the public interest. When will the Treasury be put on trial for criminal negligence?”

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