The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
More activists arrested on second day of protest against climate change
Protesters have been arrested for spray painting and lying in the road during the second day of Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in central London.
The climate protest group said two women had been arrested for spray painting the floor outside the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) building with “Oil=Death”, “Crisis”, “Barclays” and “HMRC”.
An elderly woman who lay in the road was carried off by four policemen and appeared to be arrested, with protesters suggesting this was for obstruction.
Other demonstrators lay in front of a banner saying: “Government in bed with climate criminals.”
After gathering at Parliament Square, demonstrators ran towards traffic on Whitehall for the second day of its planned 12-day mass protest.
Mike E, 72, who declined to give his full name, joined XR in 2019 but protested in London for the first time yesterday.
He said that labelling the climate activist group “extremist” was “nonsense”, adding: “We’re just ordinary human beings.”
Gaby, 48, from Bristol, who also declined to give her full name, said she had been campaigning for environmental change since she was at school.
She added that, as a mother, her “heart bleeds” for her sons’ futures.
A silent protest where a group of demonstrators wearing burlap fabric, with their bodies painted white, also walked down from Trafalgar Square towards Whitehall.
Their robes had signs saying things like “Funding Climate Hell” and “Burned Gas Burned Our Future”.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police declined to give a running total of arrests but said 52 people had been detained for a “variety” of offences as of 10.15pm on Monday.
XR kicked off its Impossible Rebellion protests on Monday when demonstrators blocked roads in central London, including around Trafalgar Square, demanding that the government ends investment in fossil fuels.
The Met said a “significant” operation would be in place for the protests over the bank holiday weekend but also acknowledged the activists’ “important cause”.
We’re just ordinary human beings