Eco ‘rebels’ halt holiday traffic in day of planned disruption
Protesters originally gathered at the Spire on O’Connell Street at 1pm, where a number of speakers addressed the crowd, highlighting ‘the ecological and environmental crisis’, and then proceeded to O’Connell Bridge in an act of ‘peaceful civil disobedience’.
Extinction Rebellion Ireland said that the aim of the protest is to ‘disrupt business as usual in Dublin City Centre’.
In a statement released yesterday, the group called on people to rebel against what they called the inactivity of the Government on environmental issues.
Extinction Rebellion said: ‘Time has almost entirely run out to address the ecological crisis which is upon us, including the sixth mass species extinction and abrupt, runaway climate change.
‘Societal collapse and mass death are seen as inevitable by scientists and other credible voices, with human extinction also a possibility, if rapid action is not taken.’
The statement continued: ‘Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by Our planet: Young protesters
‘We refuse to be complicit’
its government. That’s why, today, hundreds of rebels took to the streets to pedestrianise O’Connell Bridge and demand our Government declare a climate emergency and take immediate action to significantly reduce Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions.’
The protests caused major disruption to the city centre, with AA Roadwatch warning drivers that it had caused heavy traffic in the area surrounding O’Connell Bridge, especially along the North Quays.
Extinction Rebellion said it is demanding a number of actions, including the Government declaring a climate and ecological emergency, and for it to tell ‘the truth’ about the crisis, and enact legally binding policy changes to make Ireland carbon neutral by 2030.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail at the protest yesterday, activist and local election candidate for People Before Profit in New Ross, Co. Wexford, Susan Breen said: ‘We refuse to be complicit. We will not stay silent. The system is not just broken, it’s malignant. And it’s poisoned every river, every stream.
‘Humanity finds itself embroiled in events unprecedented in its history. One which, unless immediately addressed, will catapult us further into destruction of all we hold dear.’
Ms Breen added that there is a duty to act on this crisis for the security and wellbeing of ‘our children, our communities and the future of the planet itself ’.
In response to yesterday’s protests, a spokesman for the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment said that Minister Richard Bruton has acknowledged in the past that Ireland is far off course on achieving its CO2 targets.
‘The Government’s Climate Plan will be published over the coming weeks. It will include a range of actions, across all sectors – including heat, transport, industry and agriculture to step up Ireland’s response to climate change and reduce emissions to ensure we meet our goals,’ the spokesman said.
The protest in Dublin follows similar protests by other Extinction Rebellion groups which have been taking place in London since Monday.
Protests in the English capital continued yesterday, with more than 100 people arrested. Some 682 people have been arrested since Monday in relation to these protests. Demonstrators in London were yesterday joined by Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson, who addressed the crowd and said: ‘Our planet is in serious trouble, we have much, much less time than we thought…
‘I have seen the evidence for myself and I really care about my children and grandchildren enough to want to be here today to stand with the next generation.’
Early yesterday morning, about 20 activists, most of them under the age of 17, staged a brief demonstration on roads near Heathrow Airport. Standing close to a tunnel which leads to terminals two and three, they unfurled a black banner with the message: ‘Are we the last generation?’
‘Criminal inactivity by government’