Thousands of protesters – activists shut down traffic in London and Paris

Thousands of protesters had brought traffic to a halt with a sit-in near Hyde Park, the group wrote on Twitter. Some activists clung to a limousine. Three activists had already climbed on a tanker in the morning and had unfurled a banner that read “End fossil filth”.

According to London police, the protest caused “significant traffic delays”. Six people were arrested. As early as Friday, Extinction Rebellion activists had blocked four of the city’s main bridges.

Paris kicked off a three-day protest event
In Paris, hundreds of activists from the group blocked a major traffic axis in central Paris. For 300 meters, Extinction Rebellion blocked traffic on Grands Boulevards with sit-ins and a barricade made of hay bales. Many activists had also chained themselves to containers filled with cement. Initially, the police did not intervene.

According to a spokeswoman for the climate movement, about a thousand activists had gathered in the morning for the three-day campaign, which also includes discussions and lectures. The plan is to hold out until Easter Monday. She called on citizens to participate in the meeting modeled on ancient Greece.

According to the group, they deliberately chose the weekend between the two rounds of the presidential election for their campaign. Her spokeswoman criticized the fact that the environmental debate was largely kept out of the election campaign. “Of course we reject far-right ideas,” she added, referring to next Sunday’s runoff election, which pits President Emmanuel Macron and right-wing populist Marine Le Pen.

Macron wants to use climate protection prime minister if reelected
In the battle for green voters, Macron promised a stronger focus on climate and environmental protection policies in the event of his re-election during an election campaign appearance for supporters in Marseille on Saturday: “My next prime minister will be directly entrusted with ecological planning.” Because climate protection, this “battle of the century”, touches all areas of life and politics. At the same time, he reaffirmed his commitment to nuclear energy.

Extinction Rebellion was founded in the UK in 2018. The group uses avenues of civil disobedience to expose climate change inaction. The group has repeatedly succeeded in bringing protests to a halt in parts of the British capital and other cities.