A Knighton climate protester has been arrested as part of protests in the City of London.
Extinction Rebellion(XR) activist Angie Zelter, 70, was arrested yesterday(Thursday, September 2) for breaking bail conditions ordering her and others to stay away from the City of London.
The action was part of a mass act of civil disobedience, and marked the closing stages of XR's latest protest action in the capital, which they say is targeted at banking institutions who continue to invest in fossil fuels.
Veteran climate campaigner Zelter was reportedly arrested after sitting on the steps of the Bank of England while asking to speak to the Bank's Governor Andrew Bailey about the need for a transition to a net-zero carbon economy and the end to all new fossil fuel funding.
"We are peacefully demonstrating for one of the most urgent issues that the globe has ever faced," she said.
"We are totally peaceful and non-violent and we need to be here, and the police should be on our side."
"I’ve been arrested over 200 times in many different countries, I don’t think one more time is going to make much of a difference."
The protest is part of a two-week long action which XR call "The Impossible Rebellion", designed to highlight the impact of the City of London on climate change.
Other protest actions have seen protestors gather in London's Parliament Square, and outside the headquarters of large banks and credit card companies.
A spokesperson for XR said that by focusing on the City, they were targeting the root cause of the crisis, the political economy.
"We need to build pressure on the biggest financial institutions that are fuelling this emergency, targeting those who have a legacy of funding the toxic system that oppresses marginalised communities at home and around the world," they said.
"This crisis involves everyone. We must disrupt this pillar of power to start a ripple effect for other institutions to pressure the Government, using the new Immediate Demand as leverage before the close of the Rebellion.
"The richest countries have spent $40BILLION more on fossil fuels than clean energy since the pandemic. The opposite of ‘building back better’. As global summits on Climate (COP26) and Ecology (COP15) are coming this Autumn, we have a window of opportunity to influence the agendas and demand our political leaders act like we’re in an emergency."
As of Thursday evening, 483 people had been arrested in connection with the protests, according to the Metropolitan police.
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