Climate Change protesters arrested outside Buckingham Palace
* Protesters scaled
the gates of Queen’s palace residence
* They insisted that
she should speak out about Climate Change
UK: Four Climate Change activists were arrested in London on Saturday
after they scaled the gates of Queen Elizabeth II's Buckingham Palace
residence and chained themselves to the railings. The campaigners from
the Climate Siren group wore t-shirts bearing the words “climate
emergency. 10% annual emission cuts,” and shouted slogans through
megaphones.
The group said they wanted the queen to follow the lead of her son
Prince Charles in speaking out about climate change.
Protesters unfurled a banner citing a 2008 speech given by the Prince
of Wales to the European Parliament. It read: “The doomsday clock of
climate change is ticking ever faster towards midnight. We are simply
not reacting quickly enough.” In an open letter to the queen posted on
their website, Climate Siren called for urgent action on greenhouse gas
emissions.
“It is time that you and all public figures with influence followed
the example of your son by speaking up... about the escalating threat of
catastrophic climate change,” the letter said.
London's Metropolitan Police said they arrested three men and a woman
on suspicion of breaching Royal Parks regulations, as they broke up the
protest after more than four hours.Around 100 bystanders had stood
watching the demonstration. The queen was not in the palace at the time
as she was attending a horse racing event in Ascot, southern England.
On its website Climate Siren calls for “a great effort of civil
disobedience” in Britain to tackle “catastrophic destabilisation of
global climate”.
The group says its protest was timed to follow the Rio+20 global
conference on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which
drew to a close Friday. They criticised “the failure of the conference
to achieve any meaningful results”.
AFP |