Over 70 were arrested demanding the British government adopt a goal of reaching 100% renewable energy by 2025 to help prevent catastrophic climate change

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Story Transcript

PROTESTER: The government is criminally complacent in the mass murder of all life on this planet, and I will not be silent.

JAISAL NOOR: Police say more than 70 were arrested it’s thousands of environmental protesters blocked five bridges in London on Saturday, November 17 to demand the British government take further steps against climate change and prevent an ecological crisis. One of the rally’s organizers, Gail Bradbrook, said the demonstration was an act of mass civil disobedience.

GAIL BRADBROOK: This is an act of mass civil disobedience. There are thousands of people in London. This is the start of an international rebellion protesting the lack of action on the ecological crisis.

JAISAL NOOR: Environmentalists also rallied on Southwark, Blackfriars, Waterloo, and the Landbeth bridges; key arteries of London’s road system. Britain has a target to cut its greenhouse emissions by 80 percent by 2050, and has asked its climate change experts to advise whether it should set a date to meet a net zero emissions target. But Extinction Rebellion says the government must be a leader in addressing climate change.

GAIL BRADBROOK: Right now our children are not safe. Climate change and the crisis, the ecological crisis, is not something that’s going to happen to somebody else, somewhere else, at sometime in the future. It’s come home. We are looking at things like mass starvation and societal collapse when things happen like the food supplies diminish and dwindle because food production stops with weather events.

PROTESTER: I’ve come here because I’m really worried about climate change and the state of our environment, and I’m thinking of the sort of world I’m going to pass on to my children and any future grandchildren I have. And I think the situation’s a lot more serious than we get told about.

PROTESTER: Having someone like Donald Trump come into power and pretty much denying climate change, we’re in a very dire state of affairs. So something needs to happen soon. The demands of Extinction Rebellion are achievable. We’re looking for zero net carbon emissions by 2025, and a citizens’ assembly so we can have a say on the way we respond to climate change. This is very reasonable demands. It’s something we can actually achieve.

JAISAL NOOR: For extensive coverage of environmental issues, go to TheRealNews.com.