04.16.2022 21:51 (Akt. 04.16.2022 22:00)
Climate activists occupy major transit lanes ©APA/AFP
In the fight against the climate emergency, activists from the Extinction Rebellion group blocked important traffic axes in Paris and London. On Saturday, they blocked traffic on the French capital’s Grands Boulevards for 300 meters with protests and a barricade made of bales of hay. Thousands of activists also blocked traffic in central London. Some activists strapped themselves to a limousine.
Many of the activists in Paris also chained themselves to shipping containers filled with cement. According to a spokeswoman for the climate protection movement in Paris, around 1,000 activists gathered in the morning for the three-day campaign, during which discussions and lectures are also planned. The plan is to hold out until Easter Monday, she said. She called on citizens to participate in the assembly based on the model of ancient Greece.
According to the group, they deliberately chose the weekend between the two rounds of the presidential election for their campaign. His spokeswoman criticized the fact that the environmental debate was largely left out of the election campaign. “Of course, we reject extremist right-wing ideas,” he added, referring to the second round of the election next Sunday, in which President Emmanuel Macron and right-wing populist Marine Le Pen will face off.
At the same time, the spokeswoman announced that Extinction Rebellion would intensify the protests with “blockades and occupations of public spaces”. The international group had already blocked four bridges in London on Friday.
In London, thousands of protesters blocked traffic near Hyde Park with a protest, the group wrote on Twitter. Some activists strapped themselves to a limousine. They called for an end to fossil fuels. In the morning, three activists climbed into a tanker truck and unfurled a banner that read “Stop the Fossil Dirt.”
London police said on Twitter that the protest caused “significant traffic delays”. Six people were arrested. Extinction Rebellion activists had already blocked four of the city’s main bridges on Friday. Extinction Rebellion was founded in Britain in 2018. The group uses avenues of civil disobedience to denounce inaction on climate change. The group has repeatedly managed to paralyze parts of the British capital and other cities with protest actions.