A dozen climate change protesters have been arrested after activists, a including a counsellor and a retired charity chief executive, stripped off in the House of Commons public gallery.
Activists from ‘Extinction Rebellion’ stripped to their underwear and glued their hands to surfaces in an attempt to draw attention to the “elephant in the room”. To further their point, two of the fourteen activists were painted grey and wearing elephant masks.
‘Extinction Rebellion’ has publicly stated their aim is to get activists arrested and even sent to prison to draw attention to their cause. ‘Extinction Rebellion’ was founded in October last year by Roger Hallam, Gail Bradbrook and Simon Bramwell in response to the UN report which warned that there was only 12 years left to limit climate change catastrophe.
The activists took their clothes off as Peter Kyle, the Labour MP, opened the debate for his motion as MPs prepared for a second round of indicative votes. When a colleague raised a point of order Mr Kyle said that he was grateful for the “cheeky intervention”.
Mark Øvland, an activist a part of ‘Extinction Rebellion’, said: "We are impelled to act in this way because the most important and pressing issue of our time is being flagrantly and recklessly ignored by our government and media.
"By undressing in parliament, we are putting ourselves in an incredibly vulnerable position, highlighting the vulnerability that all of us share in the face of environmental and societal breakdown. There is an elephant in the room and it is demanding attention."
One activist had 15 April written on his chest, to draw attention to the group’s planned “International Rebellion” protest which aims to shut down London for days on end.
Scotland Yard said that 12 people had been arrested for outraging public decency. It is still unclear which protesters were arrested
