Extinction Rebellion and the end of days
The decision by counter-terrorism police to place Extinction Rebellion (XR) on a list of extremist groups was an abuse of the tools available to them (Starmer: police ‘completely wrong’ to label XR extremist, 14 January). This abuse amounts to an admission that the police do not know how to deal with XR. They are familiar with capturing those who avoid arrest. But many in XR welcome arrest as a way of highlighting the climate emergency.
I was arrested during the October rebellion last year. As I was leaving Wood Green station, I overheard two police officers talking. One said to the other: “There must be a better way. They are doing this because they believe in it, and we are doing this because it’s our job. There must be a better way.” He was right. A better way is needed – and not one that involves further abuse of police powers. That better way requires the government to listen to XR, and to act on the climate crisis. Until that happens, the police will struggle.Nigel HarveySt Albans, Hertfordshire
• I agree with Les Knight (I want humans to go extinct, Experience, Weekend, 11 January). Planet Earth is suffering from an infestation of human beings. Nor do I want us to colonise another planet. We have plundered the one we are already on. If we colonised another we’d simply carry our polluting ways there too.Donald PelmearLondon
• Apocalyptic views have been held, for differing reasons, by many individuals over the centuries. Les Knight’s are a present-day extreme version. Why characterise them as an “experience”? They appear to have nothing to do with lived experience but rather with an ingrained attitude of mind whose deep-seated origins remain opaque.Gillian TindallLondon
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