Extinction Rebellion admits rush-hour Tube protest was 'own goal' because it annoyed commuters

Disturbing footage showed angry commuters dragging XR protesters off of a tube roof this morning
Bronwen Weatherby17 October 2019

An Extinction Rebellion spokesman has admitted this morning's Tube protest was "a huge own goal".

Dozens of angry commuters were filmed dragging XR protesters off the top of the Jubilee Line tube in east London this morning.

Several of the commuters began hitting and kicking the campaigners who had targeted the Canning Town station.

Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC radio, XR activist and spokesperson Fergal McEntee admitted the action - carried out on public transport during one of the busiest times of the day - had annoyed people.

Mr McEntee defended their decision to cause disruption in the city because he said it aims to highlight the amount of money spent on fossil fuels.

But when the radio presenter asked if today's strike had been a 'huge own goal', Mr McEntee said: "Yes, I think so. I agree with you on that."

He added: "Public support for this isn't going to be very good.

"It highlights the fact that public transport is vital and it's an area we're not going to get any public support over."

Since the clip was aired, another XR spokesman said: "It is public information that many of us didn't support this morning's action however, this is a democratic organisation and groups have the freedom to act on their own.

"We'll never blame and shame and this is an opportunity for us to stand together."

The spokesman said heatwaves had become "far more severe" in the past 50 years and "it is going to get a lot worse". They added that the action was to highlight that tube stations and public transport were increasingly affected and closed by heatwaves and flooding.

A comment from those taking part was including in XR's official statement, they said: "We do not want to be doing this – we apologise for the disruption."

Extinction Rebellion London Protests: October 2019 - In pictures

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They continued: "We are scared and DO NOT want to have to resort to this. Please do not ignore the canaries, the lives of current and future generations depend on what you do now. Let’s come together and face this, the time for transformational change is now.”

The action was carried out by XR affinity groups who were said to be "peacefully disrupting the London Underground because there is an Emergency".

Activists aimed to glue themselves onto the trains to prevent them from running in a plan which would have them "nonviolently breaking the law". XR said the campaigners were waiting to be removed and arrested by the British Transport Police when anger between commuters and the protesters spiked.

In response to the morning's commotion, XR said: "As with Extinction Rebellion actions that block roads, the action is intended to cause economic disruption and thereby convince the Government to agree to Extinction Rebellion UK’s three demands of telling the truth, acting now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025, plus creating and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.

"As many people who work in central London get there by tube, disrupting this will have a substantial impact upon business within the capital. Actions of this scale are commensurate to the task of creating change on a societal level."

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