Protesters block road calling for boycott of Shell and BP garages
MOCK FUNERAL OF EARTH STAGED
EXTINCTION Rebellion protesters blocked a main Leicester road and walked up it carrying a coffin in their bid to encourage people to boycott of Shell and BP.
The environmentalist group says that the companies’ business models are “fundamentally incompatible” with the future of the planet, and decided to take part in a number of protests outside the companies’ petrol stations in Leicester yesterday afternoon.
The coffin was painted black and had the words “our future” written along its side, with the picture of a flaming Earth sitting inside the casket. Other protesters held up signs calling for the boycott, while others asked motorists to “Honk 4 Climate Action.”
The Red Rebels, a performance activist troupe that forms a section of Extinction Rebellion, also joined in with the protest - standing in the central reservation of Melton Road in silent protest.
The group also walked down towards the junction with Sainbury’s supermarket - at which point they blocked the road and held a funeral procession using the coffin, with one member of the group playing the funeral march on the recorder.
One notable member of the group was former Team GB canoeist and Olympic champion Etienne Stott, who said: “Extinction Rebellion are here today to promote a boycott of Shell and BP, but what we really want is a citizen’s assembly, made up of ordinary people chosen at random across society to come together.
“They get brought together in a room, are advised by experts and scientists and engineers, people who know what’s going on.
“Those ordinary people come up with a plan that’s fair. Normally, what’s going on, our politicians, as we can see right now, are mostly focused on power rather than solutions, get elected and are corrupt by their fossil fuel influence.”
When asked about Extinction Rebellion protesters arriving by car, Mr Stott insisted the group isn’t anticar.
He said: “No, that’s not at all the case. These protests are very much targeting these companies, Shell and BP. It’s their business model that is fundamentally incompatible with a future stability of our civilisation on this planet.
“That’s not me saying it, that’s the United Nations’ scientists, that’s the intergovernmental panel on climate change. People have to use their cars to go about their business, people have to fill up their cars once in a while, right? That’s fine.
“But these companies are going to expand their operations to a point where it’s impossible to stay below that dangerous limit of 1.5 degrees of warming, so action has to be taken.”
Mr Stott’s comments were supported by Abi Harrison, an activist for the group from Leicester, who said: “We are discouraging people from filling up at Shell or BP in particular, as they have long been known for pushing the climate blame on to individuals and hiding the truth about fossil fuels for decades to protect the billions that they make.
“Both Shell and BP have plans for massive expansion, which we should not allow.”
The Mercury has approached BP and Shell for a comment.