UK’s Extinction Rebellion to halt protests that disrupt public: ‘We quit’
- The climate activists, known for blockading transport networks and causing commuter chaos, are instead calling for a mass demonstration in London in April
- In recent months, the group has been overtaken by even more radical organisations such as Just Stop Oil, whose members threw soup on Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’
Environmental group Extinction Rebellion said that it would no longer stage its infamous blockades of UK transport networks and will instead hold a major demonstration against government policy in April.
The activist network, formed in the UK in 2018, has regularly used civil disobedience to protest what it calls government inaction on climate change.
The grass-roots group’s protests have previously included closing key roads and bridges in central London, blockading oil refineries, smashing windows at Barclays bank headquarters and spraying fake blood over the finance ministry building.
At the end of August, they blockaded London’s iconic Tower Bridge.
In a statement titled “We quit”, Extinction Rebellion said that in the four years it has been taking direct action, very little had changed, with emissions continuing to rise.
“As we ring in the new year, we make a controversial resolution to temporarily shift away from public disruption as a primary tactic,” the group said.