Pro-environment? Thousands attend Extinction Rebellion protest in London, leaving behind 120 tons of TRASH in the streets
By maryvillarealdw // 2021-09-09
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Extinction Rebellion, a radical environmental campaigning group, left 120 tons of trash on the streets of London that cost the city £50,000 ($68,910) to clean up when they took over the capital. The group shut down major roads and streets in London in October 2019 in an attempt to encourage the government to tackle climate change, which is a fictional construct. Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster Nickie Aiken revealed the cost of the demonstration as activists target the streets once more. The former leader of City of Westminster Council said that the disruption to local people and businesses is immeasurable -- the last time the group took over the streets for two weeks, they had to clear 120 tons of rubbish that was left behind. This added £50,000 to costs, using people's council tax. While Westminster and the City of London are considered very wealthy areas, the issue is not solely about wealth. For instance, there are major areas of deprivation in central London, and 25 percent of homes are rented.

What is Extinction Rebellion?

Extinction Rebellion claims to be an international non-violent civil disobedience movement that wants governments to declare a climate and ecological emergency, and take immediate action for such. Launched in 2018, the organizers say it now has groups who are willing to take action in dozens of countries. In the U.K., the organization has three main goals: The government must declare a climate emergency; the U.K. must legally commit to reducing carbon emissions to net-zero by 2025; and a citizen's assembly must be created that could oversee the proposed changes. The group's aims have been criticized to be extremely ambitious: reducing CO2 emissions to almost zero in such a short time is near impossible as it will include severe restrictions on flying, change in diets, and a massive increase in renewable energy, among many other things. Further, the group itself does not provide solutions to tackle climate change, and instead, focuses on a "citizen's assembly" that is made up of ordinary people who are expected to solve the climate crisis with only advice from experts. (Related: Climate lunatics plotting new effort to destroy the world economy in order to stop "climate change".)

XR begin protests anew

Extinction Rebellion started two weeks of action earlier in late August and brought parts of London, as well as Oxford Circus and the West End, to a standstill. The movement began on Monday, August 23, as protestors set up a giant table by Leicester Square in an attempt to encourage crisis talks by asking the government to "come to the table." The demonstration aimed to urge the government to stop all new fossil fuel investments. By Tuesday, four members of Extinction Rebellion Fashion Action glued themselves to the front door of Selfridges, located on Oxford Street. The members were wearing dresses that displayed the messages "Fashion is addicted to dirty oil" and "Code red for fossil fuel fashion." Other members poured fake oil over the activists and then over the windows of the department store to highlight the fashion industry's reliance on fossil fuels. On Wednesday, a large number of protestors blocked Oxford Circus with another giant pink table with a banner saying, "come to the table." A separate group gathered outside the Brazilian Embassy while another gathered at Piccadilly. Demonstrators from sister group Animal Rebellion were also joined by some Extinction Rebellion activists, who glued themselves to the tables in the Leichester Square McDonalds to encourage the fast-food giant to switch to a plant-based menu. So far, the Metropolitan Police have arrested 236 people for various offenses in connection with the demonstrations beginning Sunday. In response to the latest action, a spokesman for the force noted that officers encouraged people to leave, but the assembly did not disperse. Thus, conditions were imposed under the Public Order Act. "This is a complex operation, where the safety of the public and those protesting is actively taken into consideration," he said. An XR spokesman talked about the alleged volume of trash and cleanup costs. He said that the £50,000 figure was a "service cost," or the total cost of council services that were redeployed during the two-week protest in 2019 and that there was no additional money spent by the council, now were there additional costs to the taxpayers. "The 120 tons of rubbish collected took place over a two-week period. To put that figure into comparison, during London's New Year celebrations 2016-17, Westminster cleared up 85 tons of rubbish from just one night," he added. Get more updates at Climate.news. Sources include: DailyMail.co.uk BBC.com
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