https://www.mylondon.news/news/uk-world-news/extinction-rebellion-near-death-experience-23649385
London News
An Extinction Rebellion protestor has told of a “near-death experience” that led her to join the climate crisis activist group three years ago. “When I came out of hospital, what was important to me was put into high definition,” Kat explained, as she held a colourful homemade banner reading ‘nonviolence, direct action’ in Central London today (Saturday, April 9). She was one of 10,000 protesters, a figure reported by a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion, who participated in the first day of the group’s latest round of organised protest, the April Rebellion.
She described this current moment as “pivotal”, saying: “Never has there been more urgency than after hearing what we have from the UN and the IPCC report last week.” The UN’s recent landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report suggested that action on climate change needs to happen ‘now or never’.
The Guardian
In Hyde Park, police vans and officers on horses patrolled the periphery of the crowd, but the policing presence appeared low-key. The crowd moved off at about midday for the march through central London, staging roadblocks on the way.
Direct actions were planned on the fringes of the march against specific targets, but XR kept quiet on the details of what those targets were. During the morning, protesters mainly milled about, joining with affinity groups, greeting friends who they had not seen since previous actions, and enjoying a burst of spring sunshine.
“I’ve been living away from the UK but I have been admiring the movement from afar, and I think it’s inspiring, the turnout here. I have been living in New York and I saw echoes of it in New York and I’m really excited to join today,” Goulianis said.
“I think we need radical action. I think often the oil and gas lobby does a good job of making us think it’s about individual consumption, but we need to change everything.”
On the edges of the crowd, with a small group, stood Marcelo Cervone, 28, who had adorned the peak of his baseball cap with XR stickers. He said: “I want to safeguard my son’s future … he’s four months old and I want to make sure he can dream but, as we were allowed to, dream big.”
Cervone said he had been protesting with XR for several years. “We are all hoping we can end the fossil fuel economy. That’s the number one goal: immediate transition out of the fossil fuel economy,” he said.
https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/norfolk-extinction-rebellion-activists-london-protests-8887920
Evening News
James Harvey, a project manager from Salhouse said: “I’m going to London to join the Rebellion because I refuse to be a bystander while the UK government continues with its pursuit of dirty fossil fuels that are killing people around the world and driving destruction. “These protests are what a people-powered response to the climate crisis looks like.
There have also been eight days of prolonged action at oil refineries by Extinction Rebellion and the Just Stop Oil coalition, blocking depots at 10 different locations, Essex, resulting in a number of suspended operations.
Standard
Hundreds of activists gathered at Speakers’ Corner at Hyde Park on Saturday morning before marching into the centre of the city.
The Metropolitan Police said protesters initially blocked “traffic in both directions” but later said only the “westbound carriageway on Oxford St. remains closed between Great Portland St. and Regent St and “nearly all of the protesters are now in Trafalgar Sq”.
The activists gathered in Hyde Park at 10am in preparation for an “unstoppable rebellion” that will “facilitate a mass flood of people to grind the capital to a halt”. “We will return to the streets day after day until our immediate demand – for the UK government to immediately end all new fossil fuel investments – is met,” the group said in a recent statement. It has announced plans for over a week of action in London.
Since 2018, XR has staged four extended campaigns of disruptive protest in London, calling for the government to take action on the climate and biodiversity crises.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61050643
BBC
Climate activists are staging a sit-down protest in the heart of London’s West End shopping district, to call for no new investment in fossil fuels. Extinction Rebellion has planned protests in the capital every day until Sunday, 17 April. The Metropolitan Police said Oxford Street and Regent Street were blocked.
The BBC’s the most popular news site on the planet with over 1 billion monthly viewers. Last night this was the fourth most popular site.
Standard
Canoeist Etienne Stott, who won the slalom event with Tim Baillie at the London 2012 Olympic Games, said he was participating out of fear for the future of the planet.
The former athlete told the PA news agency: “I am here to demand the Government end the fossil economy.
Stott, who held a banner that read “I will need a bystander”, added: “Our voice is the voice of ordinary people saying ‘no, not in my name’.”
He chained himself to a boat with fellow British Olympian Laura Baldwin to blockade the entrance to ExxonMobil’s Fawley oil terminal in Hampshire last October.
He was convicted of a public order offence after Extinction Rebellion protests in 2019, when he was arrested on Waterloo Bridge with other demonstrators after they refused to comply with conditions imposed by police.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/extinction-rebellion-protest-london-oxford-street/
LBC
Canoeist Etienne Stott, who won the slalom event with Tim Baillie at the London 2012 Olympic Games, said he was participating out of fear for the future of the planet.
Stott, who held a banner that read “I will need a bystander”, added: “Our voice is the voice of ordinary people saying ‘no, not in my name’.” The 42-year-old, from Nottingham, earlier urged his Twitter followers to “come and join me” at Saturday’s protest, sharing a quote from the UN Secretary General which says that, instead of climate activists, “the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing production of fossil fuels”.
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