Nine people from the Brecon area will travel to London this weekend for the start of a series of non-violent civil resistance actions.
Extinction Rebellion (XR), the global environmental movement, are encouraging people to ‘join the rebellion’ in London’s Hyde Park this weekend. The group has announced daily “mass participation” protests in central London beginning this Saturday (April 9) for at least a week, with mass arrests expected.
Their aim for this weekend’s event is to encourage the government to stop all new fossil fuel investments immediately.
One of the Brecon residents joining up with the group is Hilary Williams – a 69-year-old retired speech and language therapist.
Hilary, who has six grandchildren, said: “I am extremely concerned at what my generation has done to our planet and the environment. The earth is heating up to a point where human life will not be sustainable. There will be more disasters such as floods and wild fires across the globe. This has already started and unless we act now it is going to get much, much worse.
“Whole animal species are becoming extinct because of climate change, sea levels are rising due in part to the melting of Arctic ice and this will mean that many coastal areas will become uninhabitable; which in turn will lead to people moving inland and becoming climate refugees.
“I have had such a privileged life being able to travel the world and experience all the wonders this planet has to offer. I would like my children and grandchildren to be able to do the same – but I severely doubt that they will be able to do so. So I am rebelling against this government which is not taking the actions it needs to – even though scientists have been flagging up this problem for years.”
Hillary added: “I need to be able to tell my grandchildren that at least I tried to secure a better future for them. Please help us to get the government to take the necessary actions now!”
On the event’s official Facebook page, organisers have said they will facilitate a “mass flood of people to grind the capital to a halt” in order to cause “maximum material disruption and making meeting the immediate demand politically unavoidable”.
A huge number of people are expected to attend the event, which comes after XR and other environmental protesters blocked ten oil terminals across the country last Friday including at Esso West London – a major oil facility near Heathrow Airport.
https://www.brecon-radnor.co.uk/news/nine-from-brecon-set-to-attend-xr-protests-in-london-543753
