Thousands of protesters came to the UK parliament on Saturday as part of a four-day action dubbed “The Big One” designed to “highlight the government’s environmental failures”.
Environmental group Extinction Rebellion (XR) kicked off the event Friday, promising less disruption and more inclusion than the blockades that became its trademark.
The group says thousands of people protested outside government departments in London on Friday “to highlight the environmental and social failings of all”.
Saturday’s protest, which coincided with Earth Day, was all about nature and biodiversity. It started from Westminster Abbey with attendees, many of them children, wearing animal costumes and masks.
“It’s an emergency. Everyone needs to work together so that future generations can enjoy our beautiful planet,” said 47-year-old Jenny O’Hara Jakeway, who made the six-hour journey from Wales with her two children.
“I should protest more, but my life is work and family. Being passive is no longer an option because of the urgency of the situation,” she told AFP news agency.
Many had made banners for the occasion, one reading: “We defend the climate, but the police are arresting us” and another “Extinction is forever”. Others warned that a third of the UK’s birds were “threatened with extinction”.
XR member Joseph Young, 43, attended with community worker Laura Churchill and their two children – Jurno, five, and Fox, 10.
“We’re here to save the planet from humans destroying it,” said Fox, wearing a tiger costume.
Die in
Dressed in a cheetah costume, Jurno added: “They are my favorite animals, I want them to be protected”.
The march ended in Parliament Square with a massive “die-in”, which the activists described as “a symbolic spectacle” with participants “lying down in silence, remembering and mourning the heartbreaking 70 per cent decline of wildlife since the first Earth Day in 1970”.
“As the government continues to fan the fires of the climate and biodiversity crisis, it is clear that only a collective effort can put it out,” said Areeba Hamid, executive director of Greenpeace UK.
She said the four-day event would “act as the catalyst of a new collective struggle against the vested interests that put profit before people and the planet.”
XR has caused massive disruptions in recent years, hitting roads, airports and other public transport networks with direct action protests against climate change.
But in January it temporarily halted its high-profile demonstrations, pledging instead to mobilize huge numbers against what it sees as the government’s lack of action on global warming.
“The climate and environmental crisis is not something that will happen in the future, it is already here,” said XR spokesperson Zoe Cohen.
“It’s time the government took this seriously and listened to the people here,” Cohen added.
The group hopes 40,000 to 50,000 people will attend Sunday’s event, which coincides with the London Marathon.
Talks have been held with race organizers to reduce nuisance.