Climate campaigners on Monday hailed video footage of a British mother giving an interview while being hauled off by London police, with one prominent activist calling the clip "climate communication at its best."
"The United Nations has said we should have no new oil."
Hundreds of Just Stop Oil demonstrators marched through central London Sunday, where activists blocked traffic on Waterloo Bride to demand that Britain's new right-wing government address the cost-of-living and climate crises by stopping new fossil fuel projects.
Video journalist Zoe Broughton was on the scene as Metropolitan Police officers began arresting protesters on the bridge.
"I'm doing this for my son," said one woman who was arrested on the bridge as multiple officers carried her handcuffed and in a prone position. "The government's inaction on climate change is a death sentence to us all."
Noting that "the United Nations has said we should have no new oil," the activist lamented that new Conservative U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss "wants to open 130 new oil licenses."
"That's a death sentence to this planet," she said.
Numerous other activists were also arrested. As they were led or carried off by police, a musician sang a version of the civil disobedience anthem "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" written by the late Anne Feeney and most famously recorded by Peter, Paul, and Mary:
Have you been to jail for justice? I want to shake your hand
Sitting in and lying down are ways to take a stand
Have you sung a song for freedom, or marched a picket line?
Have you been to jail for justice? Oh, you're a friend of mine
Was it Cesar Chavez? Maybe it was Dorothy Day
Some will say Dr. King or Gandhi set them on their way
No matter who your mentors are it's pretty plain to see
That if you've been to jail for justice, you're in good company.
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Brett Wilkins.
Brett Wilkins | Radio Free (2022-10-03T21:09:38+00:00) ‘Doing This for My Son’: UK Climate Activist Gives Interview While Handcuffed, Hauled Off by Cops. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2022/10/03/doing-this-for-my-son-uk-climate-activist-gives-interview-while-handcuffed-hauled-off-by-cops/
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