BEEB BLOCKED!
Extinction Rebellion London protests blockade the BBC not letting people in to work
EXTINCTION Rebellion protesters blockaded the BBC in London this morning - chanting "BBC, can't you see, this is an emergency".
Workers at the HQ were reportedly unable to get inside, as the group stood in front of the entrance waving banners and flags.
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It has been reported the BBC wasn't letting anyone in or out of the building, and a BBC spokesman confirmed they were aware of the protests when contacted by the Sun Online.
Around 40 people took the demonstrator's battle to the Beeb this morning, with banners saying "Planet Before Profit" and "This is an emergency".
They say the disruption of the BBC was sparked by the Today programme's interview of former Scotland Yard Commander Richard Walton - who wrote a report saying they should be treated as "anarchist extremists".
A spokesman said: "We were disheartened this week to see the BBC’s flagship radio programme Today has once again platformed the... former Metropolitan Police Commander Richard Walton on the first day of our International Rebellion.
"This is the very same man that authored the propaganda report on Extinction Rebellion by the opaquely-funded free-market think tank, Policy Exchange, which we now know to be receiving money from some of the UK's leading energy firms.
"The report sought to portray our deeply non-violent and non-ideological movement as 'extremist', in order to justify the introduction of harsher laws on peaceful protest."
Dozens of protesters - who have spent the week disrupting London - have set up camp outside Broadcasting House.
Cops can be seen in front of the glass doors, on the other side of the ring of activists.
BBC colleagues reporting on climate change can’t do their job if they’re blocked by, er, climate protesters.
Dominic Casciani
Financial journalist Paul Lewis tweeted "locked out of BBC by extinction rebellion" before some of the group were filmed being led away by police.
And BBC Home Affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani posted: "BBC colleagues reporting on climate change can’t do their job if they’re blocked by, er, climate protesters.
"The BBC devotes an enormous amount of energy reporting the facts. From Attenborough to local online stories. XR’s Rupert Read was even on @bbcquestiontime last night."
A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC already covers many climate change and environmental issues across its output. Programmes like Blue Planet II and Climate Change: The Facts have had a huge impact on the public debate both in this country and around the world.
"We know how important these issues are to audiences and will continue to focus on them across both news and non-news programmes, whilst internally doing all we can to lead the way in promoting sustainability in the media industry.”
Today marks the fifth day of demonstrations by the climate change group as they continue two weeks of civil disobedience.
Protesters have been camped on roads around Parliament Square and Whitehall since Monday calling for urgent action on climate change and wildlife.
Cops have arrested 1,112 as of 8am this morning, and have confiscated eight ten-ton lorries worth of kit, including generators, power sources, toilets, tents and sleeping equipment.
CAUSING CHAOS
A total of 500 cops from other forces from England and Wales have been brought in to help cope with the protests.
Yesterday we told how an Extinction Rebellion protester glued himself to the top of a British Airways plane at London City Airport as the total number of arrests topped 1,000.
The man, who Extinction Rebellion identified as former Paralympic cyclist James Brown, held onto the aircraft in a video streamed online by the protest group.
Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick branded his actions "reckless, stupid and dangerous".
Yesterday's demonstrations focused on London City Airport, where protesters attempted a "Hong Kong-style occupation of the terminal building" with hundreds blocking the main entrance.
PROTESTERS MARCH ON
Eco-warriors also blocked the entrance road, climbed on to the terminal roof and glued themselves to the entrance of the DLR station serving the East London airport.
By 8pm last night, the Met Police said there had been 1,112 arrests since the start of demonstrations on Monday - including 50 at the airport yesterday.
Dame Cressida insisted Scotland Yard has enough cells to hold and process all of the activists, adding officers were being taken away from tackling knife crime or protecting children to police the demonstrations.
She said the protesters were "utterly irresponsible and completely unreasonable" for their determination to take over and key roads in London for a two-week period.
Extinction Rebellion co-founder Gail Bradbrock hailed the demonstration as a success as she said: "I think the most important thing is that we are alerting the British people to the crisis that we're in and the threat to all the forms of business-as-usual."
Meanwhile another protester managed to ground a flight from London City Airport to Dublin yesterday - to the fury of the passengers on board.
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Passenger Warren Swalbe tweeted: "Just about to take from London City airport. Our flight was infiltrated by a climate change protester".
Nicholas Watt, the political editor of BBC Newsnight, wrote: "The final irony of the climate protest on our flight. We cannot take off until we have taken on extra fuel...to replace the fuel used up during the protest, our pilot notes with humour".
The climate change group started their three-day "Hong Kong-style" shut down of London City Airport yesterday, gluing themselves to the terminal building and dancing on a roof - but ultimately failing to cancel flights.
Robert Sinclair, chief executive of London City Airport, said there were no longer any protesters outside the terminal shortly after 7pm last night.
The latest protest is against the climate impact of flying and the Government's ongoing support of airport expansion.
Protesters were seen being dragged out the airport by officers after failing to break through security into the terminal.
Those arriving for flights were redirected to a second terminal entrance by security workers and were not allowed to enter the building without showing their boarding cards first.
On Wednesday night, activists continued their protests in Trafalgar Square as they were joined by Benedict Cumberbatch and Simon Amstell, and electronic music duo Disclosure and Orbital played a set.
In the wake of Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling the protesters "uncooperative crusties", his father Stanley Johnson said the comments were made in humour and he would consider it a compliment to be called a crusty by his son.
MOST READ IN NEWS
The demonstration's come as Sir Christopher Hohn, who is worth £1.2 billion, made a personal donation of £50,000 to the environmental group, according to .
Mr Hohn said: "I recently gave them £50,000 because humanity is aggressively destroying the world with climate change and there is an urgent need for us all to wake up to this fact."
The Children's Investment Fund Foundation, a charity co-founded by the billionaire, has also donated more than £150,000.
WHO ARE EXTINCTION REBELLION?
Extinction Rebellion is calling on the Government declare a climate and ecological emergency, act immediately to halt wildlife loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
Earlier in the year, Parliament declared a climate and environment emergency and the Government has passed a law to cut emissions to net zero by 2050, far later than the activists are demanding.
The group staged 11 days of protests in London in April that disrupted public transport and roads.
On Thursday Extinction Rebellion activists used a fire engine to hose red liquid at the Treasury to draw attention to what they said was the government's failure to avert climate disaster.
Last week the Met warned that the protests were taking officers away from other vital roles in the capital including tackling knife crime and domestic violence.
More resources have been used policing climate change protest than focusing on terror, it was said.
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