Day that commuters took on eco zealots
Protesters block Tube... then they’re dragged off
FRUSTRATION at the Extinction Rebellion protests that have crippled London erupted into violence yesterday as commuters assaulted an activist who had blocked a train.
Ugly scenes unfolded after activists targeted Tube stations in an attempt to cause rush-hour mayhem.
But the strategy backfired and led to a chorus of disapproval from the group’s own supporters.
Extinction Rebellion was forced to apologise for deploying the tactics on the 11th day of protests. A spokesman for Extinction Rebellion, Fergal McEntee, told LBC radio it had been ‘a huge own goal’. And the group’s leaders have called off a protest at Gatwick airport today ‘in light of’ the response to the Tube disruption.
Protesters targeted three stations on the Docklands Light Railway and Jubilee Line in an effort to anger commuters travelling to Canary Wharf and the City of London, the capital’s financial hubs.
Footage showed two protesters using a ladder to clamber aboard a train at Canning Town, in east London, at 7am.
Within seconds, enraged commuters left the packed Tube train and began berating the pair, who displayed a banner reading ‘Business as usual = death’.
Passengers ignored announcements to leave the station and instead shouted at the protesters to get down. Several commuters initially turned on two cameramen standing on the platform, including filmmaker Elliot Laughlin, who has worked with the group since last year.
Mr Laughlin said he was kicked more than 20 times, including in the face, by a ‘mob’ after being pulled from a chair on which he was stood. The 50-second assault ended only when three commuters intervened. He added: ‘It was quite an ordeal.’
Commuters turned their attention to one of the protesters on the train, James Mee, 35, who was pelted with objects and had a cup of coffee thrown on him.
A passenger was eventually hoisted on to the train and grabbed Mr Mee, who tried to kick the commuter.
Footage then showed the activist being pulled to the ground and kicked by up to a dozen onlookers as he lay in a foetal position before a Transport for London worker intervened. Fellow protester and Buddhist teacher Mark Ovland, 36, was also dragged off the train. Both activists were later arrested. British Transport Police said it was investigating the commuters who attacked the protesters.
Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick said: ‘So what point is Extinction Rebellion making shutting down east London’s public transport system, preventing ordinary people from getting to work, school, hospital?’