Extinction Rebellion protest: Activists enter Shell HQ and glue themselves to government buildings
Follow the latest updates as activists plan a surprise demonstration in the capital
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Your support makes all the difference.Activists have glued themselves to Shell HQ and a UK government building in protests to demand action on the climate crisis as Extinction Rebellion continued its week of protests in London.
Demonstrators entered the oil and gas company offices on Wednesday afternoon, with some using glue to stick themselves to the reception desk and the ground outside.
Earlier in the day, scientists - dressed in white lab coats - glued themselves to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy building to call for no new fossil fuels.
It comes during a week of mass action by XR, which has also seen the entrance to Lloyd’s of London blocked in protest at the insurance sector’s backing of the fossil fuel industry.
‘New fossil fuel production puts us in danger'
According to Scientists for XR, Dr Abi Perrin is a microbiologist taking part in the protest.
“The science is clear - new fossil fuel production puts us all in danger. Our government’s strategy furthers the harm,” she is reported as saying:
Images of BEIS protest
Here is what going on outside the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy now:
What is going on with oil and gas in the UK anyway?
The UK government pledged to pursue new fossil fuel projects in the North Sea just last week.
In a much-anticipated energy security strategy, Boris Johnson said: “We’re going to make better use of the oil and gas in our own backyard by giving the energy fields of the North Sea a new lease of life.”
The document tries to explain this during the climate crisis. “Net zero is a smooth transition, not an immediate extinction, for oil and gas,” it says.
Harry Cockburn has more on the strategy - and criticisms of it - here:
UK energy strategy will give North Sea oil and gas ‘new lease of life’, says Johnson
Boris Johnson talks up hydrogen and nuclear power while setting out plans to expand fossil fuel production
‘The fastest way to get Extinction Rebellion to stop is to listen to them'
As Extinction Rebellion promise another week of disruption, Harry Cockburn, our environment correspondent, writes:
“It is all completely unnecessary, and the people with the power to end the disruption are those in government.”
Read his analysis here:
The fastest way to get Extinction Rebellion to shut up is to listen to them
The people with the power to end the disruption are in government, writes Harry Cockburn
‘The PM asked for a climate pass with the war in Ukraine,’ scientist at protest says
Pete Knapp, an air quality scientist at the protest today, says: “The government department is responsible for choosing between a liveable planet and fossil fuels and they are choosing fossil fuels.”
He added: “The PM asked for a climate pass with the war in Ukraine - this is not how science works. We don’t have a tranquil period to cut fossil fuels.”
XR training
Extinction Rebellion ran a non-violence training course in London to prepare new recruits for the planned wave of protests this month.
Rory Sullivan has more here:
Extinction Rebellion stage mass sit-down protest in central London
The demonstrators sat down on roads around Oxford Circus chanting ‘save our planet’
XR protesters enter Shell building in London - report from scene
Extinction Rebellion members have now entered the Shell building in London.
Other activists are gluing themselves to the ground outside the building in South Bank.
Our climate correspondent, Saphora Smith, is at the scene. More to come.
Shell ‘plays huge part’ in destroying habitats, activist says
Saphora Smith, our climate correspondent, is speaking to XR activists at the protest at Shell HQ. She reports:
Andy Smith, 46, a climate activist involved in the demonstration he was motivated by concern for the future of his four young nieces.
“It’s absolutely heart-breaking to think they’re inheriting a world that has potentially just been ruined by greed and a willingness not to change,” he said. “That’s the key motivation.”
Mr Smith, an art teacher, said there were also many species, both plants and animals, that were at risk and yet were voiceless.
“There are eight and half million different species who have zero say in any of this who are just being decimated and destroyed their habitats just trashed,” he said. “And companies like Shell play a huge part in that.”
Activists glue themselves to Shell HQ
It looks like activists have also glued themselves to the reception desk at Shell HQ:
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