I predict a riot if rebel Rebels not reeled in
I have applauded Extinction Rebellion – until this week.
They’ve been making their point on climate change in a powerful fashion across the country, disrupting traffic, playing dead and parading peacefully through streets. But spraying the treasury with fake blood to demonstrate against fossil fuels was bad form.
Especially as they couldn’t control the hose on the fire engine they’d bought off eBay, drenching a bystander with beetroot water.
This was just vandalism dressed up – with taxpayers picking up the cleaning bill. And how hypocritical, wasting 1,800 litres of water in the demo.
This is the kind of activism that turns me right off. And, with the International Rebellion kicking off tomorrow, threatening to paralyse London with 20,000 activists, I hope it is not a sign that these eco-warriors are taking their protests in a different direction.
This cheap stunt may have generated news, but it will have been at the expense of empathy.
And that is priceless.