Eco-zealots have occupied the offices of five major insurers in the City of London, including the iconic Walkie Talkie building, in a climate protest.
The Extinction Rebellion activists are demanding insurance companies stop insuring fossil fuel companies and projects – such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
A march is also taking place in the financial district of the capital with demonstrators holding banners that read ‘insure our future, not fossil fuels’ and ‘rebel for truth’ as the City of London Police said a ‘number of people’ have been arrested.
Teams of activists, dressed in business attire, entered the offices at 8.30am this morning. They believe, if fossil fuel companies don’t have insurance, they won’t be able to extract the fuels.
The Walkie Talkie building, which holds the offices of Tokio Marine, Leadenhall Street, which Probitas operates from, Threadneedle Street, where Talbot is based, and Creechurch Place, where Travelers operates, were all ‘infiltrated’ by the activists this morning.
They also ‘occupied’ the offices of Zurich in the Shadwell area of London.
Protesters at Creechurch Place, where the offices of Travelers are based, have occupied the lobby of the building
Extinction Rebellion protesters outside the Walkie Talkie building hold up a sign
The protests kicked off on Tuesday morning and has lasted into the afternoon
Extinction Rebellion activists at the iconic Walkie Talkie building, where Tokio Marine is based
The eco-zealots have occupied the lobby of the Leadenhall Street offices where Probitas are based
One of the protesters in the Walkie Talkie building holds up a sign that says, ‘insure our future not fossil fuels’
The Fenchurch building, also known as the Walkie Talkie, where the protesters have occupied the lobby
The protesters in the lobby of Talbot and another office block have exited the buildings as they were cheers on by other protesters.
Extinction Rebellion said on their livestream that a number of ‘dirty scrubber’ protesters have been arrested.
The ‘dirty scrubbers’ put fake money into a prop washing machine before using green dye to ‘greenwash’ it.
The City of London Police said earlier that officers had been given the power to search for items ‘which may be used for criminal intent’ via a Section 11.
Protestor Liz Pendleton said: ‘We are here to engage constructively with insurance bosses about their decision to insure the fossil fuel crooks wrecking the climate. We’re staying until they come down and talk to us.
‘The insurance industry has a unique opportunity to immediately halt all the ‘carbon bomb’ projects like the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline and the West Cumbria coal mine that will cause climate breakdown and a future of killer storms and heatwaves, floods, famine and war.
‘It’s very simple. No insurance equals no drilling. No insurance equals no digging. So these companies have a superpower that could give us all a fighting chance of a liveable future.’
The Police have shown up to the Threadneedle Street, where Talbot is based, according to footage on Extinction Rebellion’s Twitter account.
The group claims Zurich Insurance ‘refused to meet our demands to stop enabling fossil fuels, respect human rights and support a just transition at talks on Friday’ last week.
They added that they had ‘occupied’ the insurance giant’s office but they appear to be outside.
There is also a march protesting climate change making its way through the City of London.
Protesters are chanting ‘insure our future’ while marching. The protest is part of the Insure Our Future movement which has three demands.
They are: ‘stop insuring fossil fuel organisation, respect human rights and a just transition to a green economy’.
A ‘faceless financier’ takes part in the Insure Our Future march
There were plenty of colourful banners and outfits at the march
A woman takes part in the march with a purple flare
A woman protester poses with a flag and a drum
The protesters are calling on insurance companies to stop insuring fossil fuel companies
The scenes of protest at Leadenhall Street
A police officer appears to take down the details of a protestor who is sitting on the floor of the Walkie Talkie building
Police officers attend the protest at the Walkie Talkie building
Police officers attend the protest in the Walkie Talkie building
Protesters hold up a ‘insure our futures not fossil fuels’ in the Walkie Talkie
At Leadenhall Street, protesters take to the floor
Meanwhile, the Haringey Tree Protectors are undertaking another protest outside the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in Westminster where the Manufacturing Conference 2024 is taking place.
The group are calling on ‘home insurers to stop felling trees’.
The Haringey Tree Protectors were joined by members of the Red Rebel Brigade – who dress in red with white powder on their faces.
Their website says they are ‘an international performance artivist troupe dedicated to illuminating the global environmental crisis’.
One member of the Tree Protectors was dressed in black – apart from a white mask on his face – while holding an axe.
Last week, Extinction Rebellion sent ‘hundreds of top insurance bosses’ letters setting out their ‘demand’ that leading insurers stop insuring fossil fuel companies.
They also warned that ‘thousands’ of Extinction Rebellion activists would ‘food’ into the City of London this week.
Chidi Obihara, of Extinction Rebellion said: ‘Just 20 companies insure 70% of fossil fuel projects. Many of these companies are based in the City of London, or in cities and towns across the UK.
Extinction Rebellion protesters march through the streets of the City of London
A protester holds up a ‘death insurance’ banner on the march through the financial district of London
An Extinction Rebellion protesters calls for a Citizens Assembly on climate change
Protesters bring traffic to a standstill in the City of London
Protesters at the Walkie Talkie building
A protester hands out leaflets at Creechurch Place
A protester calls for ‘deeds not words’ at the Walkie Talkie offices
The Red Rebel Group protesting in Westminster today
The group are calling on home insurers to ‘stop felling trees’
Other protesters dressed up as trees
‘They have the power to pull the plug on the fossil fuel crooks once and for all. To play a huge role in saving us all from a future of drought, famines, killer storms and heatwaves and war.
‘The letter that we sent to the leaders of the insurance industry in the UK offers them the chance to be climate heroes rather than the targets of mass protests that will severely damage their reputations. We really hope that they read it and do the right thing.’
The letter sent by Extinction Rebellion yesterday to CEOs, senior underwriters, and chief actuaries at more than 40 insurance firms in the City of London reads:
‘We’re writing to you from the heart to offer you and your business the opportunity to be the climate heroes that millions of us desperately need you to be in these times of terrifying and rapidly accelerating crisis.
‘You and your colleagues possess an amazing and quite unique superpower. You could simply refuse to underwrite new and existing oil, gas and coal projects and infrastructure – and stop the global fossil fuel industry that is causing the climate crisis in its tracks.
‘Immediately, companies such as Total and Adani would be left to face the full financial risk of ‘carbon bomb’ projects including the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and the West Cumbria coal mine (1) – and thus be unable to push ahead with them.
‘At a stroke, you would give all of us a fighting chance of avoiding global temperature rises that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres predict will plunge us into a future of deadly droughts, famines, killer storms and heatwaves, war and societal collapse.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13130463/XR-activists-occupy-Walkie-Talkie-offices-three-major-insurers-City-London-climate-protest.html
