Thousands of global climate change demonstrators thronged central London on Monday, as environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion held a replacement round of protests, promising fortnight of disruption.
Protesters were greeted with an outsized police presence as they converged on Trafalgar Square within the heart of British capital, where they rallied with a marching band and speeches.
The latest action — branded the “Impossible Rebellion” — saw participants block roads resulting in the square, deploying an outsized pink structure bearing the slogan “come to the table”. “What are you waiting for? Your local area to flood, or your street to urge blocked with rubble and cars?” Extinction Rebellion’s UK branch said on Twitter.
“The #ClimateEmergency is occurring now, and therefore the rebellion for all times is occurring now.” The group, formed in Britain in 2018, may be a network of climate activists who use direct action to spotlight inaction over heating .
“I worry about the state of our society by the time we hit adulthood , it’s frightening,” said Ali, a 21-year-old student.
“I hope it makes people stand and say we’d like to prevent fuel production, we’d like to prevent car production,” said another participant, Craig, a 28-year-old paediatric physiotherapist wearing hospital scrubs.
Since holding its first protests in London in 2018, activists have repeatedly brought parts of the capital and other cities to a standstill with carnival-like demonstrations.
They have also targeted individual businesses and premises in London for protest , including newspapers’ offices and energy companies’ headquarters.
