Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

As it happenedended

Extinction Rebellion protests – live: Activists strip naked outside Barclays after police remove people glued to plants

Latest developments as they happen

Sam Hancock,Tom Batchelor,Eleanor Sly
Friday 03 September 2021 17:02 EDT
Comments
Extinction Rebellion protestors strip naked in front of Barclays

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Activists at the Extinction Rebellion protest have now been freed from the plant pots, onto which they had glued themselves, only to be been placed immediately into handcuffs and taken to a police van.

Others stripped naked infront of a branch of Barclays bank in protest, behind a banner which read: “We are all vulnerable, stop funding fossil fuels”.

Meanwhile, dozens of medical staff, including doctors, surgeons and anesthetists, gathered outside JP Morgan’s headquarters in London calling on the investment bank to divest from fossil fuels on Friday, with a warning that failing to act now would make the planet “uninhabitable”. 

Some protesters lay on the floor while others stood behind a giant banner reading “stop funding fossil fuels”.

Dr David McKelvey, a GP for 36 years, said: “We call on them to face up to the reality of catastrophe they are fuelling. Stop all new fossil fuel investments now.”

Police gathered at the Canary Wharf site and one nurse could be heard telling security “you’re hurting me, you’re really hurting me”.

JP Morgan declined to comment on the protest.

The action is the tenth day of the ongoing Impossible Rebellion, a series of protests by Extinction Rebellion and related groups on environmental issues.

On Thursday, activists from HS2 Rebellion, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, scaled the seven-storey Tower Place West building in the City of London which houses the offices of insurance company Marsh – linked to the HS2 rail project.

XR calls on people to join their demo tomorrow

Extinction Rebellion is calling on people to join their protest tomorrow in central London.

The group, which has been demonstrating in the capital for five days so far, has launched a variety of demos including a naked protest in front of a branch of Barclays bank today.

The March for Nature starts tomorrow at 4pm in Trafalgar Square.

Lamiat Sabin3 September 2021 19:45

Pyrenees glaciers ‘likely to be reduced to ice patches'

Europe’s southernmost glaciers will likely be reduced to ice patches in the next two decades due to climate change, Spanish scientists say in a new study. 

It comes as the shrinking of ice mass on the Pyrenees mountain range continues at a steady but rapid speed seen at least since the 1980s.

The Pyrenees, marking the natural border between Spain and France, saw three glaciers disappear or become reduced to stagnant strips of ice since 2011.

In 17 of the two dozen remaining ice sheets, there’s been an average loss of 20 feet of ice thickness. 

Their mass also shrank over one-fifth on average, or 23 per cent, in nearly one decade, according to the study published last week in the peer-reviewed Geophysical Research Letters. Its findings were announced to the media today.

The Spanish scientists blamed climate change for the retreat, and in particular a 1.5C overall temperature increase in the Pyrenean region since the 19th century. 

“What we are seeing here is an advance warning of what may happen in other mountains, like in the Alps,” said Jesus Revuelto, one of the study’s authors. “Their glaciers have much more mass and entity, but we are showing them the way.” 

Lamiat Sabin3 September 2021 20:15

That’s it for today’s coverage. Thanks for following.

Lamiat Sabin3 September 2021 21:25

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in