MILITANCY: The environmental organization is now focusing on a large protest against government inaction in April
The environmental organization Extinction Rebellion announced on Sunday that it was suspending the spectacular blocking operations in the United Kingdom that made it known, preferring to mobilize for a large demonstration against the government’s inaction in April.
This network of activists, formed in the UK in 2018, regularly uses civil disobedience to denounce what it calls government inaction on climate change. Its activists have distinguished themselves by sticking to the roads or planes to block traffic.
At the end of August, they again blocked London’s iconic Tower Bridge Weighbridge.
“Disrupt the abuse of power”
“This year, we are prioritizing participation over arrests, outreach over roadblocks,” the group said in a statement.
He announces that he has taken for 2023 the “controversial resolution to temporarily turn away from disturbances of the public space as a main tactic”.
He recognizes “the power of disturbances to sound the alarm” but says “necessary” to evolve and especially want to “disturb the abuse of power” by putting pressure on the political class to put an end to the use of fossil fuels.
For this, he calls for a large demonstration on April 21st in front of the British Parliament, hoping to bring together 100,000 people.
Controversial actions
Extinction Rebellion’s actions have often been controversial, with the group infuriating part of public opinion, conservative power and much of the press by attacking the public.
Many activists have been arrested during these actions and the government plans to further tighten the right to demonstrate.
At the same time, Extinction Rebellion was overtaken by the emergence of even more radical groups such as Just Stop Oil or Insulate Britain, which blocked London’s ring road or doused Van Gogh’s masterpiece “Sunflowers” in soup in October. at the National Gallery in London.
