Climate protest group Extinction Rebellion have demanded a response from the government by 5pm today (Monday 24 April) or they will return to more disruptive protest techniques.
The deadline comes as four days of peaceful, non-disruptive protest in London come to an end. 30,000 people from 200 different environmental groups came together for ‘The Big One’ over the weekend.
Extinction Rebellion’s primary demands include an immediate end to all new fossil fuel licences and the formation of citizen’s assemblies to tackle the climate emergency.
The group, which ‘quit’ public disruption as a primary protest technique in January 2023, have said that if the government don’t engage with them by 5pm today, they will be forced to “unquit”.
At XR’s four day protest in 2021, nearly 200 protesters were arrested.
Over the weekend, two activists from Just Stop Oil were jailed for scaling the Dartford Crossing bridge in October. The judge specifically mentioned that they were receiving their sentences, in part, “to deter others from copying you”.
Speaking at a press conference before The Big One, Rob Callender of Extinction Rebellion explained that a government failure to respond by the deadline will mean a call to step up being issued at 10am on Tuesday, April 25th.
“Within three months, Extinction Rebellion will have designed a plan for the greatest acts of civil disobedience in this country’s history,” said Callender.
The Big One, and the huge collaboration that has grown around it, have clearly caught the public imagination.
It was recently announced that a £250,000 crowdfunder had been met and that a second ‘doubling down’ crowdfunder called the ‘The Big One and Beyond’ was powering toward a target of £500,000.
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