Members of the Extinction Rebellion environmental movement sprayed on Thursday the front of the Bank of England in the City of London with biodegradable fake oil, as part of a global protest to expose the role of banks in the climate and ecological crisis
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2021) Members of the Extinction Rebellion environmental movement sprayed on Thursday the front of the Bank of England in the City of London with biodegradable fake oil, as part of a global protest to expose the role of banks in the climate and ecological crisis.
In what the group said was "an elaborate April Fools prank," activists also held a banner outside the building that read "No More Fossil Fools," and attached images depicting �windows� to the wall.
According to XR, the "Money Rebellion" was designed to expose the role of banks in the climate and ecological crisis, arguing that the world�s 60 largest banks have funded the fossil fuel industry with $3.8 trillion since 2016.
"The Bank of England has failed utterly in its duty to regulate giant funders of fossil fuels like Barclays and HSBC. The climate crisis will never be averted if big banks, whose only concern is profit, are left to their own devices. The Bank of England needs to make it impossible for UK banks to keep funding the fossil fuel industry and nature destruction," Robert Wheeldon, XR political strategist, was quoted as saying in a press release.
According to the statement, similar protests are being held on Thursday in front of private banks in several UK cities like Glasgow, Brighton, Cambridge and Cornwall, as well as in Paris, Brussels and Melbourne.
The City of London Police said that five people have been arrested in relation to the Bank of England protest, one for criminal trespass, three for criminal damage and one for going equipped to commit criminal damage.
Founded in 2018 in the UK, Extinction Rebellion describes itself as a politically non-partisan international movement that uses non-violent direct action to persuade governments to act justly on the climate and ecological emergency.
In 2019, its members brought central London and other main UK cities to a standstill with widespread demonstrations, but the movement has been out of the streets since the first COVID-19 lockdown measures were imposed in March, 2020, except in September, when they gathered for several days in front of Parliament to request the passage of a Climate and Emergency Bill.
XR is demanding that the government declare a climate and ecological emergency, act to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025, and allow the creation of Citizens' Assembly to make decisions on climate and ecological justice.
