Earth Day: Protest in London gathers thousands – 22/04/2023 – Environment

Thousands of people demonstrated this Saturday (22), Earth Day, in front of the British Parliament. The demonstration is part of an action planned by activists to last four days, with the aim of highlighting the government’s environmental failings.

The initiative, by the environmental group Extinction Rebellion (XR), began on Friday (21), when the organization promised a new strategy that was less disruptive and more inclusive than the massive lockdowns that have become its trademark.

According to XR, thousands of people demonstrated outside various government departments on Friday “to highlight the environmental and social failings of all of them”.

This Saturday’s protest, centered on nature and biodiversity, began at Westminster Abbey, with participants — many of them children — dressed up or wearing animal masks.

“This is an emergency. Everyone needs to join forces so that future generations can enjoy our beautiful planet,” said Jenny O’Hara Jakeway, 47, who made the six-hour journey from Wales with her two children for the protest.

“I should protest more, but my life is work and family. Being passive is no longer an option given the urgency of the situation. [das mudanças climáticas]”, he told AFP.

Among the placards that many carried, some read slogans such as “We defend the climate, but the police arrest us”.

The march ended in Parliament Square, where the demonstrators lay down on the ground, pretending to be dead: a “symbolic spectacle” in which the participants “lie silently, in memory and weeping for the painful decline of 70% of the populations of wild animals since the first Earth Day in 1970,” according to the organization.

Prison

On Friday, two environmentalists from the British organization Just Stop Oil were sentenced to up to three years in prison for scaling a bridge over the River Thames, which caused major traffic jams. The sentence, unusual for this type of action, was considered exceptionally harsh.

On Oct. 17, Morgan Trowland, 40, and Marcus Decker, 34, used climbing equipment to climb to the top of Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in south-east London. They demanded that the British government put an end to hydrocarbon exploration in the country.

The bridge was closed from 4 am to 9 pm, causing huge problems with traffic, which had to be diverted into nearby tunnels.

Judge Shane Collery of the Southend Court sentenced Trowland to three years in prison and Decker to two years and seven months.

“They should be punished for the chaos they caused and to discourage others from imitating them,” the judge said. The two have been detained since October 20.

Just Stop Oil denounced, for its part, “the most serious sentence for peaceful action on the climate in the United Kingdom”.

The Queen Elizabeth 2nd Bridge is used by around 160,000 vehicles a day and connects to one of the busiest highways in Europe.

Essex Police stated that those affected included a “pregnant woman in need of urgent medical attention”.

Since Just Stop Oil began its protests in April 2022, its actions have led to more than 2,000 arrests and 138 people arrested, according to the organization.