Eco-activists who left London in chaos today were branded ‘crusties’ and ‘importunate nose-ringed climate change protesters’ by Boris Johnson.
The Prime Minister told Extinction Rebellion (XR) demonstrators to ‘stop blocking the traffic’ as the city center-ground to a halt despite a massive police presence.
Officers arrested 321 protesters who closed bridges and major roads on the first day of a fortnight of action in London.
Among activists in Trafalgar Square were celebrities including model Daisy Lowe, comedian Ruby Wax and actors Juliet Stevenson and Mark Rylance.
But residents, commuters, hospital patients and paramedics reacted with fury at the protests, which brought the capital to a standstill for the second time this year.
Demonstrators set up roadblocks on Westminster and Lambeth Bridges, Victoria Street, Whitehall, Horse Guards Road, and The Mall.
In Berlin, XR cunningly hide the ‘planet-destroying’ generator powering their camp.pic.twitter.com/qQsWxTl1mf
— 𝑶𝒑𝒕𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒄𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒏 (@OptoSean) October 7, 2019
Scotland Yard vowed to take a tougher line after being accused of surrendering the streets to them for more than a week during demonstrations in April.
But despite the arrests, police failed to move them all and restore order. Those affected up by the protest included the Prime Minister, who spoke at Banqueting House on Whitehall during the launch of the third volume of an official biography of Margaret Thatcher.
Attacking ‘the denizens of the heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs that now litter Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park Corner’, he said the former prime minister was a ‘true feminist green revolutionary’ who took greenhouse gases ‘seriously long before Greta Thunberg’.
Patients and staff at St Thomas’ Hospital were stranded, with ambulances struggling to get in or out.
One paramedic at the hospital on the south side of Westminster Bridge said the protests caused ‘a lot of disruption’ and delayed ambulance journeys by up to 15 minutes.
The gridlock left one cancer patient stuck outside the hospital for more than an hour because a taxi couldn’t get to her.
Veronica Smith, 55, who has lung cancer, attended an appointment at midday to drain her lungs. The care worker from Lewisham, south London, was discharged at 1.45 pm but was still stranded at 3 pm.
Another patient, who gave his name as Tony, 66, criticized the activists as he hobbled on a broken foot through the protest to attend an appointment.
He said: ‘My bus should have been stopping outside the hospital. They should be all arrested and water-cannoned. It is absolutely disgraceful. Why do they have to disrupt people’s lives?’
Meanwhile, delivery driver Shah Kamal, 22, from south London, said he had to abandon his vehicle for more than two hours after being caught up in blockades.
He fears he may not get paid after failing to complete his deliveries.
Having started work at 5 am, he was still unable to drive over Lambeth Bridge almost 12 hours later. He said: ‘I don’t think I’m getting home tonight. It is just ridiculous.’
Some London activists glued themselves to scaffolding, and one parked a hearse in Trafalgar Square and locked himself to the steering wheel. They also shut down the Smithfield meat market in east London.
Mark Rylance gave a speech in which he revealed that his decision to resign from the Royal Shakespeare Company over its sponsorship contract with BP was inspired by teenage activist Greta Thunberg.
Addressing a crowd off The Mall, he said: ‘The collapse of society is certain.’
Actress Juliet Stevenson said: ‘All over the world, millions and millions of people’s lives are already feeling the impact and livelihoods are being destroyed.’
The protesters staged a wedding, did yoga and set up camps with tents during the demonstration to curb global warming.
They also played cricket outside the Supreme Court, while ‘lady vicars’ occupying the south side of Lambeth Bridge sang hymns.
Extinction Rebellion claims the protests could be five times bigger than those in April, which brought major disruption to London and saw more than 1,100 arrests.
It cost Scotland Yard £16million to police the earlier demonstrations – enough to pay the salaries of 600 bobbies.
Yesterday, Downing Street said protesters who ‘significantly disrupt the lives of others’ should feel the ‘full force of the law’. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘It is essential that people can continue to go about their business. The right to peaceful protest does not extend to unlawful activity.
‘The Government expects police to take a firm stance against protesters who significantly disrupt the lives of others and to use the full force of the law.’
Read rest at Daily Mail
We need a counter protest group, called “Disruption Extinction”!
What a pathetic ridiculous lot they are!
#bringbackthebirch!
Make those Extinction Rebellion idiots should be made to clean up the mess they leave behind their being total idiots and payed for by wealthy socialists their nothing but the usual bunch of idiots
It is generally regarded that in abusive relationships, the victim is almost as responsible for the situation as the abuser. After having the man she lives with beat the crap out of her failing to call the police or someone like a brother continues to enable the abuser.
The same is true of London’s response to the extinction rebellion tying up London traffic. Those arrested should be charge with not only their crime but conspiracy. Higher profile participants should be sued for tens of thousands of pounds for the economic impact. Since they are middle class most have a lot that they could loose. A week of such policies would end these protests, but don’t expect the London authorities to have the back bone to do it.
A recent poll showed 51% of those in the UK don’t buy into anthropological climate change. It is certain that even less than that would support the extremely costly demands of the extinction rebellion not to mention the radical reorganization of the economy and society. Since their demands have no hope of making it through the use of democracy, the extinction rebellion is using disruptive tactics in an effort to by pass democracy. By passing democracy to implement an agenda that the majority oppose is totalitarian tactic. The phase eco-Nazi often used at this site is very appropriate.