Extinction rebellion is back for its “summer uprising,” with five protests across five cities in the UK this week, each protest is focusing on a specific ecological threat: rising sea levels, floods, wildfires, crop failures, and extreme weather, and is carried out under the names of seminal environmental activists.
The group kicked off five days of disruption in Bristol, Glasgow, Cardiff, London, and Leeds yesterday, blocking the streets with colourful boats plastered with the words ‘ACT NOW’ and ‘THE FUTURE YOU FEAR IS ALREADY HERE’, as protesters sat peacefully, playing music.
The summer uprising has begun, Extinction Rebellion block roads all over the UK in a week-long protest for climate action.
Back in April, the climate action activist group instigated a UK-wide shutdown of major locations across London and other UK cities for weeks, drawing attention to the dangers of the climate crisis. Parts of London including Oxford Circus and Marble Arch came to a standstill. In other areas, activists glued themselves to trains and buildings.
Now, in this week’s demonstrations, participants in different regions will focus on a specific ecological threat. Participants in Cardiff will be dressed in yellow to represent the Canaries that were once used as a way of warning coal miners of dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Protesters in Glasgow will be standing in solidarity with climate refugees.
Protesters in Leeds and London will be spotlighting the financial and justice systems’ complacency in the matter, urging for the investment in green, renewable energy. The blue boat outside London’s Royal Courts of Justice has been named the Polly Higgins, after the late barrister and environmental lobbyist. The historic seaport of Bristol will focus on the devastating effects that climate change has on sea-levels.
#ActNow calling all rebels you are needed #summeruprising #RoyalCourtsOfJustice #ExtinctionRebellion pic.twitter.com/zFDteMVkAx
— Extinction Rebellion Families (@XRFamilies) July 15, 2019
Frances, an 18-year-old Extinction Rebellion Youth member protesting in Leeds, said: “We are facing the sixth mass extinction. To save the futures of myself and those I love and care about, I will be taking to the streets in protest this week. For too long the youth have been denied a voice in politics and I will not stop until this changes. If there was one thing I could say to our government it would be: Act Now. Our lives are in your hands.”
Across the next five days, the group said it will carry out “creative acts of civil disobedience”, with educational workshops, music, road, and bridge blocking.
