Extinction Rebellion
About
global environmental movement with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to
compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and
the risk of social and ecological collapse.
Citing inspiration from grassroots movements such as Occupy, the suffragettes, and the civil
rights movement, Extinction Rebellion aims to instill a sense of urgency for preventing further
"climate breakdown".
Protesters during the Impossible Rebellion demanded that the UK government cease new
investments in the fossil fuel industry. XR also demand that the government declare a climate
emergency, reach net zero carbon emissions by 2025 and create a citizens' assembly on climate
change.
Civil Disobedience
In November 2018, five bridges across the River Thames in London were blockaded as a protest.
In April 2019, Extinction Rebellion occupied five prominent sites in central London: Piccadilly
Circus, Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Waterloo Bridge, and the area around Parliament Square.
Impossible Rebellion is a series of nonviolent climate change protests in the United Kingdom
organised by Extinction Rebellion (XR), from 23 August 2021 to 4 September 2021. The protests
particularly targeted the City of London to raise awareness of the role of the financial sector in
climate change.
Protesters during the Impossible Rebellion demanded that the UK government cease new
investments in the fossil fuel industry. XR also demand that the government declare a climate
emergency, reach net zero carbon emissions by 2025 and create a citizens' assembly on climate
change.
A number of activists in the movement accept arrest and imprisonment
Its 2019 protests cost the Metropolitan police an extra £7.5 million.
Activists identifying with the movement have also defended causing property damage, such as
smashing windows.
They say such tactics are sometimes necessary and that they were careful not to put anyone at
risk
Extinction Rebellion uses mass arrest as a tactic to waste police time and disrupt other people's
lives.
Co-founder Roger Hallam has said "letters, emailing, marches don't work.”
The protests on 17 April had blocked access to means of transport including buses, alienating
travellers.
Reaction and Support
In a YouGov poll of 3,482 British adults conducted on 15 October 2019, 54% "strongly opposed"
or "somewhat opposed" Extinction Rebellion's actions of disrupting roads and public transport
to "shut down London" in order to bring attention to their cause, while 36% "strongly
supported" or "somewhat supported" these actions.
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