Environmental protesters returned to the streets of Europe's capitals to continue a week of demonstrations that have seen many arrests.
ADVERTISEMENTThe environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion took to the streets of Europe's capitals again on Saturday to continue a week of demonstrations, which have seen more than 600 arrests in London alone, according to police.
Activists in the UK also blockaded two printworks, saying that the newspapers concerned were refusing to properly report the climate emergency.
The group said it targeted printworks at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire and Knowsley in north west England, that are owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. The Times, Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Financial TImes and The Sun were particularly affected.
Dozens of protesters chained themselves to trucks and bamboo scaffolding to block the road outside the plants.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned their actions, insisting that it restricted the public's access to information:
”A free press is vital for our democracy. People have the right to read the newspapers they want. Stopping them from being distributed and printers from doing their jobs is wrong.”
Extinction Rebellion replied in a tweet with a claim that "when you talk about freedom, you mean freedom to lie to us and exploit us, freedom to deny the truth, freedom to avoid scrutiny, freedom to bypass democracy."
They apologised to newsagents for the disruption their action caused, but further claimed that “the right wing media is a barrier to the truth”.
In London the Metropolitan Police reported there were more than 600 arrests since the start of the protests.
Protesters also took to the streets in Denmark's capital, Copenhagen. They stood together to form a human chain without touching, remaining socially distant because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
In the Polish capital Warsaw, protesters gathered outside the climate ministry to demonstrate.
Several spoke to the media to say the issue of climate change and how to deal with it needed to be forced onto the agenda - and mentioned the need to continue to increase public awareness of the issue.