Climate activists disrupt five British cities with ‘summer uprising’

REUTERS, 16th JULY, 2019 -  Civil disobedience group Extinction Rebellion staged protests in five British cities on Monday, aiming to renew pressure on the government to take bolder action to tackle climate change and slow the worldwide loss of plant and animal species.   

The movement, which shut down four sites in central London for 11 days in April, said the latest actions in London, Bristol, Leeds, Cardiff and Glasgow aimed to generate momentum ahead of another phase of disruption planned for October.   

“Right now we’re in a phase of movement building,” Larch Maxey, one of the movement’s organisers, said outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, where several hundred protesters blocked the road.   

“We’re going to be doing more disruption in October in major cities around the world,” Maxey told Reuters, standing near a sailboat emblazoned with the slogan ACT NOW, one of five brightly-painted vessels towed to protest sites in each city.   

Extinction Rebellion said the protests would run all week and include blocking specific locations, bridges and roads. It will also hold talks, workshops, training in non-violent direct action, family-friendly activities and debates.