A GIANT pink table was blocking a street in central London as New Scientist went to press. Climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion says it represents the need to include more people in action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Deposited in Covent Garden on Monday, and leading police to close the surrounding roads, the 4-metre-high table has become the centrepiece for the start of a fortnight-long protest in the city.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 a symbol of the climate crisis,鈥� says Alanna Byrne of Extinction Rebellion. 鈥淥ur message was people deserve a seat at the table. The stagnation at Westminster is not getting it done, let鈥檚 bring people to the table in a citizen鈥檚 assembly to work out where we go from here.鈥�
The protest was announced in the wake of the report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier this month. Thousands of campaigners attended on Monday, which is the fifth Extinction Rebellion protest in London since October 2018. Campaigners walked up Charing Cross Road, saying they will protest until their demand 鈥� ending new fossil fuel investments in the UK 鈥� is met.
Asked why the group is protesting now, Byrne says: 鈥淭he climate crisis is happening now.鈥� She adds that while Extinction Rebellion has plans for when heads of state are in Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit in November, 鈥渨e are saying don鈥檛 wait until COP26 and [for] world leaders鈥�.
Monday saw 52 arrests by the Metropolitan Police. The force said it would try to remove the table structure 鈥渁s soon as possible鈥�.
While London is the focus for protests on the ground, Byrne says Extinction Rebellion hopes the event will galvanise people in other cities.
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