On Monday, the Met police launched a ban on two or more people linked to Extinction Rebellion gathering in London. Since Scotland Yard’s decision to impose a section 14 order arrests have accelerated to over 1,700.
Professor David Mead, specialist in UK Human Rights Law at the University of East Anglia commented,
“I think there is a very good chance that a court would conclude that the Met’s decision to impose a condition bringing to an end the XR protests in London would be unlawful.”
Rowan Elisabeth Earlam, final year PhD student and treasurer of UoN’s Extinction Rebellion Society, told Impact,“The police’s implementation of section 14 across the entire city of London was a sad attempt to ban extinction rebellion from protesting. Not only did it not work, with thousands of us turning up despite the ban, it is in violation with our right to protest and to peaceful assembly.”
Regardless of the controversial ban, protesters continued with their campaign against government inaction on tackling climate breakdown and ecological collapse. The penultimate day of the rebellion began with a “Red Handed” procession from Whitehall Gardens through to Westminster. Protesters were invited to raise their hands and take responsibility for the global injustice of the environmental and ecological crisis.
The “Red Handed” protest comes ahead of five Extinction Rebellion protesters targeting the London Underground and DLR services at rush hour last week. The disruption resulted in enraged commuters pulling climate demonstrators from the roof of a train creating violent footage that has since been proliferated across major news outlets.
In an official press release Extinction Rebellion stipulated, “Those that acted this morning planned their action autonomously,” following, “10 days of peaceful action”. Despite split opinions across the organisation towards the tube action, two weeks of civil disobedience ended with a ceremony of ‘Harvest’ in Trafalgar Square focusing on reflection, rehabilitation, and regeneration.
Ellie Stainforth-Mallison
Featured image courtesy of Extinction Rebellion via Facebook.
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