EIGHT ARRESTS AS EXTINCTION REBELLION DECLARES IT IS READY TO REBEL AGAINST GOVERNMENT

Manchester Christmas shoppers had never seen anything like it yesterday as new anti-climate change protest group, Extinction Rebellion, held sit down protests on Deansgate, a die-in at St Peter’s Square and a further roadblock on Oxford Street, where the TAU riot police made eight arrests.

“The only solution is to rebel against a government that has failed its people” said one speaker “This is the start of the rebellion up north in Manchester. We’re all sitting in this road because we want to, because we need to.”

Full details here…

The first sit down road block took place outside the Sawyer’s Arms on Deansgate, followed by a much longer one outside Kendal’s, where speaker after speaker announced that they ‘were ready to rebel’, before reading the ‘declaration of rebellion’…

Stunned shoppers heard a five minute long tract read out a portion at a time which was then repeated by cheering supporters…

“This is our darkest hour. Humanity finds itself embroiled in an event unprecedented in its history of which, unless immediately addressed, will catapult us further into destruction.

“We hold dear this nation, its peoples and our eco systems and the future of generations to come. The science is clear. We are in the sixth mass extinction and we will face catastrophe if we do not act swiftly and robustly. Biodiversity is being annihilated, our seas are poisoned, acidic and rising. Flooding and desertification will render vast tracts of land uninhabitable and lead to mass migration.

“Our air is so toxic. The United Kingdom is breaking the law. It harms the unborn, whilst causing tens of thousands to die. The breakdown of our climate has begun. There will be more wildfires, unpredictable superstorms, increasing famine and untold drought as food supplies and fresh water disappear. The ecological crises that are impacting upon this nation and indeed this planet and its wildlife can no longer be ignored, denied nor go unanswered by any beings of sound rational thought, ethical conscience, moral concern or spiritual belief.

“In accordance with these values, the virtues of truth and the weight of scientific evidence we declare it our duty to act on behalf of the security and wellbeing of our children, our communities and the future. We, in alignment of our consciousness and our reasoning, declare ourselves in rebellion against our Government.

“The wilful complicity displayed by our Government has shattered meaningful democracy and cast aside the common interest in favour of short term gain. When government and the law fail to provide any assurance of adequate protection as well as security for people’s wellbeing and the nation’s future it becomes the right of citizens to seek redress in order to restore democracy and to secure the solutions needed to avert catastrophe and protect the future.

“It becomes, not only our right, it becomes our sacred duty to rebel. We hereby declare the bonds of social contract to be null and void which the Government has rendered invalid by its continuing failure to act appropriately.

“We call upon every principled and peaceful citizen to rise with us. We demand to be heard, to apply informed solutions to these ecological crises and to create a national assembly by which to initiate those solutions needed to change our present cataclysm course. We refuse to be bequeathed a dying planet to future generations by failing to act now. We act in peace with ferocious love of these lands in our hearts. We act on behalf of life.”

While the declaration was read out, cars, taxis and buses came to a halt, the police looked on, and the public seemed to agree with the sentiments, joining in the cheers.

From there, the march, behind a huge banner reading ‘Declare A Climate Emergency – Carbon Neutral by 2025’ moved on through the Christmas markets to St Peter’s Square, where a die-in took place, while a choir sang, for ‘The lives that we will be losing and the lives that we have lost through climate breakdown…’.

From St Peter’s Square, a small group marched down Oxford Street, behind another banner reading ‘We’re all fucked…unless we sort it out right now!’, before sitting down in the road on the corner of Portland Street, and refusing to move.

The TAU riot police arrived, with a stand-off lasting around an hour as police liaison teams tried to negotiate with the campaigners…”We are going to be here until we are forced to leave; we do not want to be here but we have to be here” said one of the Extinction Rebellion protesters, as the group chanted ‘What do we want? Climate justice. When do we want it? Now!’.

The TAU finally cleared the road as eight of the group were arrested for blocking a public highway.

“Our leaders have had thirty years of warnings, making promises that have never been kept, and meanwhile the earth is in crisis, and the problems we’re facing have not just been unaddressed, but have got far, far worse” Extinction Rebellion declared in a public statement.

“In those wasted years, global carbon emissions have risen more than 60% and our animal population has shrunk by 60%” it added “How can we stand by and let this happen to our people, our wildlife, our planet?

“We demand our leaders make immediate and radical changes – for instance committing the UK to be carbon-free by 2025 – in order to prevent the deaths of millions of people, in the UK and in some of the poorest parts of the world, in the years ahead.”

Extinction Rebellion is promising more actions, as their members are ‘ready to rebel’…

For further details see the Facebook group Extinction Rebellion North