Climate activists spray UK Treasury with fake blood
October 3, 2019
Extinction Rebellion activists hosed the Treasury with red liquid, unfurling a sign reading: "Stop funding climate death." Police arrested four people, but were left wondering what to do with the left-behind fire engine.
Image: picture-alliance/Zumapress/R. Pinney
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The head office of the British Treasury was sprayed with fake blood on Thursday, as Extinction Rebellion activists sought to draw attention to the climate crisis.
Using a decommissioned fire engine, activists sprayed the building in central London with 1,800 liters (475 gallons) of red liquid.
Footage from the incident showed the protesters briefly losing control of the fire hose, with fake blood spraying across the street. They also unfurled a banner on top of the truck reading: "Stop funding climate death."
"The Treasury has been frustrating efforts by other government departments to take action against climate change because it cares only about economic growth," one of the activists, named Ben, told Reuters news agency. "It doesn't see that eternal economic growth leads to climate death. The red symbolizes the people dying now in the global south and also the people who are going to start dying from climate change all around the world if we do nothing."
Extinction Rebellion accused the British government of not doing enough to address the climate crisisImage: picture-alliance/empics/A. Chown
The British government has said it wants to achieve net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050, but Extinction Rebellion wants to reach that benchmark by 2025.
London's Metropolitan Police said four people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.
Authorities were left puzzling over what to do with the fire engine that the group left behind, as the keys had been removed by the driver.
The group plans to launch two weeks of climate protests in over 60 cities around the world starting on Monday.
In pictures: Environmentalist groups and their concerns
Tens of thousands of protesters disrupted the IAA car show in Frankfurt on Saturday. The protests were organized by several environmentalist groups. DW looks at the groups, their aims and the problems they want to fight.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
Joining forces: Environmental groups team up
Groups at the protest included #FridaysForFuture, an environmental protest movement started by activist Greta Thunberg. She sat outside the Swedish Parliament every day demanding the government take action on climate change. Her example soon sparked international school strikes. Other key groups in attendance were Greenpeace, cyclist-safety visibility group Critical Mass and Extinction Rebellion.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Becker
Cyclists riding for change
Critical Mass is a cyclists' environmental protest bicycle ride. It started in 1992 in San Francisco, and now Critical Mass groups are found all over the world. They organize rides in large groups that often block roads to make car drivers aware of cyclists. The Critical Mass website speaks of a "cycling culture that refuses to take a back seat to motorists."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Roessler
Greenpeace: In the place where change happens
Greenpeace is a non-violent environmental activist group. The organization has set out a plan for the world to be on track by 2020 to keep global climate change below 1.5° C. Among other aims, the group hopes to tackle environmental degradation of forests and oceans.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Roessler
The death of the combustion engine?
Evidence has towards the combustion engine's contribution to increasing global temperatures. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) study on car transport, commissioned by Greenpeace Belgium, concluded that to achieve a 66% likelihood of keeping global warming below 1.5°C, diesel and petrol cars must be rapidly phased out in Europe with an end to new sales by 2025.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
"We can't replace our lungs"
Air pollution is another target for environmental activists. Air pollution has reached dangerous levels in many cities across the world and there is mounting research on the damage it inflicts on humans and fetuses.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
An end to SUVs
According to the Greenpeace "Crashing the Climate" report into the effect of the car industry on the environment, SUVs are particularly damaging to the environment. Due to their higher weight and less aerodynamic body, SUVs produce significantly higher CO2 emissions than other cars.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
Down with auto-cracy
Many protesters and environment groups think that governments have been too slow to enact meaningful change to ensure the Earth's temperature doesn't rise above the 2°C benchmark set by climate scientists.
