Extinction Rebellion to ‘Temporarily’ Stop Using Public Disruption Tactics

Demonstrators take part in an Extinction Rebellion protest on Westminster Bridge in London on April 15, 2022. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Media)

The Extinction Rebellion (XR) climate campaign has said it will temporarily stop using public disruption tactics because “very little has changed.”

In the last 12 months protesters from XR, Insulate Britain, and, most recently, Just Stop Oil, have caused chaos for motorists and others going about their daily commute.

Climate activists have been arrested after blockading traffic, locking and gluing themselves together, and spray painting buildings. But despite this, XR said “very little has changed—emissions continue to rise and our planet is dying at an accelerated rate.”

“As we ring in the new year, we make a controversial resolution to temporarily shift away from public disruption as a primary tactic,” it said in a statement on Dec. 31.

“We recognise and celebrate the power of disruption to raise the alarm and believe that constantly evolving tactics is a necessary approach,” wrote XR.

“What’s needed now most is to disrupt the abuse of power and imbalance, to bring about a transition to a fair society that works together to end the fossil fuel era. Our politicians, addicted to greed and bloated on profits won’t do it without pressure,” it added.

It is taking the step now because “multiple crises” have helped make this the “time to seize the moment.”

The activists believe issues such as the cost-of-living crisis and ongoing strikes may help to provide “a unique opportunity to mobilise and move beyond traditional divides.”

Activists unfurl a giant banner on Lambeth Bridge as they block it in protest over fossil fuel use, in London, in an undated file photo. (Yui Mok/PA)

XR is calling for 100,000 people to surround the Houses of Parliament on April 21.

“Surrounding the Houses of Parliament day after day in large numbers means we can leave the locks, glue and paint behind and instead demonstrate faith in a critical mass of people to create a moment that’s impossible to ignore,” it said.

XR is a coalition partner of the Climate Emergency Fund, which itself is funded by billionaire oil heirs from the Getty and Rockefeller families, Aileen Getty, Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert, and Peter Gill Case.

Groups like XR have been accused of having a “subversive agenda.”

In 2019, a report (pdf) by Policy Exchange written by former head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command Richard Walton, argued that XR was a campaign that seeks to use mass civil disobedience over climate change, to impose full system change to the democratic order.

Walton said XR seeks a “more subversive agenda, one that is rooted in the political extremism of anarchism, eco-socialism, and radical anti-capitalist environmentalism.”

In response to the report, XR said it was “a movement of mass civil disobedience with the principle of nonviolence at its core.”

Public Order Legislation

Climate change activism has resulted in new legislation in the UK.

The government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act has come into effect, increasing the sentences available for offenders convicted of carrying out disruptive acts, giving police more flexibility in the way that they manage protests.

Measures in the Public Order Bill, which were drawn up to prevent guerrilla tactics used by eco-protesters, have also given more powers to the police to manage such protests. The bill is currently in the report stage.

The proposed public order legislation would create a new criminal offence of interfering with infrastructure such as oil refineries, airports, railways, and printing presses.

Such an offence would carry a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

“Locking on” or “going equipped to lock-on” to other people, objects, or buildings to cause “serious disruption” could see people imprisoned for six months or hit with an unlimited fine.

A new criminal offence of tunnelling to cause serious disruption is also being created, which will carry a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment as well as the potential for an unlimited fine.

An offence of going equipped to tunnel will also be created.

Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of two protesters who have thrown tinned soup at Vincent Van Gogh's 1888 work Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London, on Oct. 14, 2022. (PA Media/Just Stop Oil)

Just Stop Oil

Climate group Just Stop Oil, which is funded by the Climate Emergency Fund, has been staging disruptive protests in an attempt to highlight its call for the UK government to begin the process of winding down fossil fuel production in the country.

In 2022, the UK government sent 138 Just Stop Oil supporters to prison.

In a statement on New Year’s Day, Just Stop Oil said that everyone now “has a duty to join those in civil resistance.”

“The actions Just Stop Oil supporters take would not be acceptable under normal circumstances, but right now, ordinary people are left with no choice,” it wrote.

“This is not about polar bears and puffins, it’s about who gets to eat and how we will survive. Under British law people have a legal right to protect themselves, to protect the legacy of their ancestors who came before them and to protect the common inheritance of the people yet to come,” the group added.

PA Media and Alexander Zhang contributed to this report.