TENS of thousands of people are expected to descend on Westminster this weekend to join Britain’s biggest ever protest against the combined climate emergency and political crisis.
The four-day action organised by Extinction Rebellion (XR), which will be joined by actors, authors, musicians, trade unionists and human rights activists, is demanding that the government takes immediate action to tackle the linked crises.
“People’s pickets” were formed outside 16 government buildings earlier today to kick off the campaign of protest, calling for urgent new policies to tackle the climate emergency affecting people and communities across the country.
A group of 40 European Union lawmakers have called on UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to scrap plans to develop the Rosebank oil and gas field ahead of an energy summit next week.
Members of the European Parliament, led by Michael Bloss from the Green party, said in a letter seen by Bloomberg that development of the project operated by Equinor ASA threatens globally agreed climate targets.
“It is evident that the exploration and development of new oil and gas fields is incompatible with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” said the letter, signed by a cross-group selection of MEPs and sent to Sunak. “Rejecting the proposed Rosebank oil field would be a step in the right direction.”
Clarification published over false Newsnight claim following ban on former leader running as Labour candidate
The BBC has published a correction after a news item last month falsely claimed that former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had not apologised over antisemitism in the party.
The clarification referred to an episode of the flagship current affairs programme Newsnight on 28 March, following the decision by Labour’s executive committee to ban Corbyn from standing as a candidate in the next election.
The programme referenced Corbyn’s alleged “refusal to offer up any kind of apology” over accusations of antisemitism in the party under his watch.
It also questioned whether the former leader would refuse to apologise “as he has all the way up to now”, if the issue of antisemitism arose in an election campaign.
“To be clear, Mr Corbyn apologised for antisemitism in Labour on a number of occasions as Party Leader, including ahead of a meeting with Jewish community leaders in April 2018,” the BBC said on Thursday, in an entry on its “Corrections and Clarifications” page.
Just Stop Oil at Dartford QE2 bridge M25 crossing. Image: Just Stop Oil
Two Just Stop Oil supporters have been given draconian custodial sentences after occupying the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford in London. The Just Stop Oil supporters were demanding that the government halt licensing and consents for the development of any new fossil-fuel projects in the UK.
The pair appeared before Judge Collery at Southend Crown Court. Morgan Trowland has been sentenced to three years and Marcus Decker has been sentenced to two years and seven months. These are the longest sentences for peaceful climate action in UK history.
The pair scaled the QE2 bridge on October 17th 2022 and remained at height for 37 hours. Both men have been held on remand since the incident.
Speaking before the sentencing, Morgan Trowland, 40, a bridge design engineer from London, said:
“Marcus and I demonstrated what any two ordinary people will do, when the death screams of the world become unbearable. I cannot enjoy liberty in a society when our government makes plans to kill people on a massive scale. Drilling new oil and gas wells in 2023 means death for many of the most vulnerable on earth. I will not be complicit in that.”
Speaking outside the courtroom Stephanie Golder, a Just Stop Oil spokesperson, said:
“What Morgan and Marcus did was extraordinary, risky and extremely disruptive. But what should you do when your government refuses to protect the people? When it ignores the repeated warnings of the world’s climate scientists. When you know that new oil and gas extraction will eventually result in the deaths of billions of people?”
“Nonviolent civil resistance is the answer. It’s what the Suffragettes did, it’s what the Civil Rights movements did. It’s our best chance of getting the scale of change we need, in the time we need it.”
“Just Stop Oil will not be deterred by these draconian sentences. Where they imprison one of us, ten more will take their place. When they imprison ten of us, one hundred will stand to take their place. We must unite against this genocidal government and be brave.”
“For now, that means slowly marching around the streets of London. It is an act of self respect, an act of solidarity, an act of love and necessity. We urge you to join us, because together we can stop the harm that is new oil and gas. Our campaign resumes on April 24th. Sign up at juststopoil dot org.”
Since the Just Stop Oil campaign began on April 1st 2022, there have been over 2,000 arrests and 138 people have spent time in prison, many without trial. There are currently two Just Stop Oil and five Insulate Britain supporters in prison, serving sentences for actions taken with the campaign.
This is the moment for us to come together and resist the destruction of everything we love, something that is being imposed on us by a few, who only seek to enrich themselves.
