Climate protest news 27 April 2022
Just Stop Oil protesters defy cops again as arrests made on second day of action
Ten more arrests have been made after a protest outside a giant Midland oil terminal today. It was the second demonstration in two days at the Kingsbury depot, near Tamworth.
Activists stood and held placards outside the UK’s largest inland oil depot on April 27. According to protesters, they were arrested “pretty swiftly”.
Yesterday, April 26, some 16 people were taken into custody for blocking the entrance to the site. Activists on the ground told BirminghamLive it was the first action since they wrote to Boris Johnson demanding a halt to all future licensing and consent for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK.
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Climate protester sprays government building with paint using fire extinguisher
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Campaigners from a group called ‘Axe Drax’ covered the headquarters of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy with paint using a fire extinguisher.
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According to the group’s social media account, they want to pressure the government into cutting ties with the Drax Group.
It’s part a string of protests targeting the company, which operate a biomass fuel station in North Yorkshire.
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Earth Day 2022
It occurs to me that this could be a dangerous time for politicians and others failing to address the climate crisis. We have the most recent IPCC report identifying necessary action including an immediate stop to all new fossil fuel use and it’s ignored. Climate change is seen and experienced, it’s beyond controlling the narrative. The people that have warned of the growing crisis will be gaining power and influence, [ed: in a few years … ] we may well have laws that are applied retrospectively – and why shouldn’t they be? [ed: Why shouldn’t they be held responsible for their actions or – potentially recognised as criminal – neglect? Had the power to address severe climate destuction but chose not to …]
Climate Group Calls Biden’s Earth Day Order for Old-Growth Forests ‘Grossly Inadequate’
U.S. President Joe Biden’s reported plan to protect old-growth forests—which help combat global temperature rise by storing planet-heating carbon—is “grossly inadequate,” one climate advocacy group said Thursday.
Biden will mark Earth Day in Seattle on Friday with an executive order on the issue, according to The Washington Post, which cited five unnamed sources briefed on the plan.
Responding in a statement, Food & Water Watch national organizing manager Thomas Meyer declared that “President Biden seems to think we’re celebrating the first Earth Day in 1970, rather than in [the] depths of the climate crisis in 2022.”
“Protecting forests without addressing the root cause of the climate crisis, namely the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels, will do very little to slow global warming,” he warned.
“The president has many effective tools at his disposal to address the climate and public health impacts of fossil fuels in a serious way,” Meyer added. “He should start by following through on his pledge to end fracking on public lands and stop offshore drilling, and directing his agencies to reject all new fossil fuel infrastructure.”
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US Mobilization Planned to Demand ‘Livable, Just, and Healthy Planet for All
Over 20 advocacy organizations are planning a nationwide “Fight for Our Future” mobilization for Saturday to demand climate action from the Biden administration and Congress.
On the heels of Earth Day, demonstrators plan to gather in Washington, D.C., and communities across the United States to reiterate the necessity of pursuing bold policies to combat the fossil-fueled planetary emergency, citing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released earlier this month.
The organizing comes not only in the midst of the climate emergency but also as Russia’s war on Ukraine and price gouging by fossil fuel giants—in the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic—drive up the cost of gas.
Sierra Club president Ramon Cruz in a statement that “in this unprecedented moment of climate crisis, rising prices, energy insecurity, and racial and environmental injustice, it’s vital that our leaders fight to establish a livable, just, and healthy planet for all.”
“The latest IPCC report made clear that we not only have an imperative to address the climate crisis, but also the means to do so—doing so just requires the political will to make transformational investments at the scale and speed the crisis demands,” he added. “There’s a clear path forward for critical investments in climate, care, jobs, and justice, and Congress must seize this crucial opportunity to truly ensure the future we all deserve.”
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Climate protest news 21 April 2022
Just Stop Oil calls one-week halt to protests in hope of action from No 10
Just Stop Oil has said it will suspend its direct actions against fuel distribution for a week, but has told the prime minister its members will escalate their disruptive protests “if you do not fulfil your duty to the people”.
For two and a half weeks, the climate activists have been targeting oil terminals and oil tankers in the Midlands and the south-east of England with blockades and mass trespass.
The government and petrol retailers have attempted to downplay the scale of the disruption to fuel deliveries. But there have been widespread reports of petrol station forecourts running dry in various parts of the country.
Just Stop Oil’s activists have vowed to continue their campaign until the government agrees to a ban on new oil and gas extraction projects, or until they are all jailed.
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Extinction Rebellion and Palestine Action activists blockade entrance of Israeli arms firm’s London HQ (Yesterday)
CLIMATE activists today targeted the London HQ of Israel’s largest private arms firm in protest at “brutal” attacks on al-Aqsa mosque by Israeli forces in recent days.
Members of the youth branch of Extinction Rebellion teamed up with the Palestine Action group to blockade the entrance of Elbit Systems’ offices in Holborn on Wednesday morning.
The groups said the action, which saw activists lock on to the entrance of the building at 77 Kingsway Road and hurl red paint across the facade, forced the offices to shut for the day.
Palestine Action said the activists wanted to show solidarity with Palestinian worshippers during Ramadan after Israeli forces launched a series of raids on the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, injuring dozens of Palestinians.
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‘No Wars, No Warming’: Extinction Rebellion Marches on NYC 18 April 2022
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Members of Extinction Rebellion (XR) marked Tax Day with the “No Wars, No Warming” demonstration outside a federal building in NYC where various agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), have offices.
Demonstrators perched on top of and locked themselves to two 15-foot tripods installed near the Charging Bull sculpture to block traffic on Broadway, according to organizers. Nine activists were arrested.
“We recognize that the people who are most often placed in harm’s way from armed conflict are also the people who have and will continue to face the brunt of the climate crisis,” says the XR event webpage. “In this moment, after two years of Covid-19, our tax money should be funding social services that benefit the communities most impacted by the climate crisis and most affected by decades of systemic underfunding.”
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Climate protest news 17/4/2022
Extinction Rebellion: Seventy arrested at climate change protests
Seventy people were arrested during a spate of Extinction Rebellion protests across London on Saturday, police said.
Six people, including two Olympic athletes, were detained for scaling and gluing themselves to an oil tanker near Hyde Park.
Dozens more were then arrested at Marble Arch as demonstrators climbed the structure to attach a green banner reading “end fossil fuels now”.
Protesters also blocked the road and surrounded a car.
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Protest in Paris yesterday
Climate Change Protesters Close Down Main Square in Paris …
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In Paris, activists closed down a large square in the center of the city in protest over the environmental programs proposed by the remaining candidates in France’s upcoming presidential election, Reuters reported.
“Their inaction leads to our rebellion,” was the calling cry for hundreds of people who gathered in Paris’ 9th district, including some who lay on the floor during a so-called “die-in” demonstration, per the outlet.
“We are blocking this Paris square to rebel against alternatives that we don’t have,” Lou, a 26-year-old history teacher, told Reuters. They told the outlet that they “joined the Rebellion movement two years ago.”
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“This election leaves us with no choice between a far-right candidate with repugnant ideas … and a candidate who during five years cast the ecology issue aside and lied,” they said, referencing President Emmanuel Macron and his challenger Marine Le Pen ahead of their run-off election.
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Woman is first to be convicted over Just Stop Oil fuel depot blockades
A 64-year-old woman has become the first person to be convicted for her involvement in the wave of protests at fuel sites staged by activist group Just Stop Oil.
Catherine Maclean was charged with aggravated trespass after an incident at an oil terminal in Thurrock last Wednesday.
Maclean, of Hurstpierpoint, Hassocks, in West Sussex, was ordered to pay £409 in fines and costs after admitting the offence at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, Essex Police said.
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