Bridge too far as police clear protesters from Waterloo Bridge
BY TOBY PORTER
toby@slpmedia.co.uk
Police cleared the last of thousands of climate change activists from Waterloo Bridge on Easter Sunday.
Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion started their protest on April 15, stopping traffic at Waterloo Bridge, as well as Oxford Circus, Marble Arch and the area around Parliament Square.
Olympic gold medallist Etienne Stott was one of the eco-warriors arrested on Waterloo Bridge on Easter Sunday as cops arrested hundreds.
The English slalom canoeist won the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in the C2 class. Extinction Rebellion said the bridge protests were “to symbolise the possibilities of a positive future if we act now”.
Their activities on Waterloo Bridge featured folk, classical, choral and acoustic music and ecology talks and well-being tents with massage, yoga, meditation and healing.
Roger Hallam, a founder and organiser behind the Extinction Rebellion movement, said on Monday that it had been the biggest civil disobedience event in recent British history – the number of arrests surpassed that at the anti-nuclear protests at Upper Heyford in 1982, where 752 were held, and at the poll tax riots in 1990, where 339 were arrested.
He said that they had had confirmation from the police that none of their officers had been hurt in the past week’s protests. Mr Hallam said the protests would end yesterday.
“We’re hoping that the political class wake up, because if they don’t the next thing that will happen will be much more dramatic,” he said.
Everyone at the South London Press thanks you for your continued support.
Former Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has encouraged everyone in the country who can afford to do so to buy a newspaper, and told the Downing Street press briefing:
“A FREE COUNTRY NEEDS A FREE PRESS, AND THE NEWSPAPERS OF OUR COUNTRY ARE UNDER SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL PRESSURE”
If you can afford to do so, we would be so grateful if you can make a donation which will allow us to continue to bring stories to you, both in print and online. Or please make cheques payable to “MSI Media Limited” and send by post to South London Press, Unit 112, 160 Bromley Road, Catford, London SE6 2NZ
