Group says two women in their 80s took hammer and chisel to protective glass at British Library
Two Just Stop Oil protesters have smashed the glass around Magna Carta at the British Library.
The Rev Sue Parfitt, 82, and Judy Bruce, 85, a retired biology teacher, targeted the protective enclosure with a hammer and chisel on Friday morning.
Continue reading...More than 200 expected to join protest calling for climate action and to cut ties with Israeli institutions
More than 100 students have occupied Ghent University in the first European protest to fuse demands about Gaza and the climate crisis.
Ghent’s centrepiece UFO building was peacefully taken over by students calling for concrete action to meet the university’s 2030 climate plans, and asking the university to cut ties with institutions connected to the Israeli military.
Continue reading...Leaders with responsibilities for sea country on way to Canberra to lobby against legislation
The Albanese government is facing major blowback over changes to its offshore gas bill, which the crossbench and environment groups have labelled “window dressing” that fails to prevent new rules watering down First Nations consultation.
Seeking to clear the decks before Easter, the government is expected to reveal tweaks to its proposed vehicle efficiency standards this week. And on Monday Labor introduced amendments to add safeguards to the offshore gas bill after widespread concerns, including from within it own ranks.
Continue reading...Blockades at facilities in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, with protests in Scotland and action expected in Denmark
Climate activists in four countries are blocking access to North Sea oil infrastructure as part of a coordinated pan-European civil disobedience protest.
Blockades have been taking place at oil and gas terminals, refineries and ports in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, in protest at the continued exploitation of North Sea fossil fuel deposits.
Continue reading...Thunberg and other activists dragged away from doorway they were obstructing in climate protest
Swedish police have forcibly removed Greta Thunberg and other climate activists after they blocked the entrance to the Swedish parliament for a second day.
Two officers lifted Thunberg and dragged her away before putting her down on the ground about 20 metres away from the door she had been obstructing.
Continue reading...Scientists and vets are urging the president to afford the world’s most traded species better protections
France’s hunger for frogs’ legs is “destructive to nature” and endangering amphibians in Asia and south-east Europe, a group of scientists and vets have warned.
More than 500 experts from research, veterinary and conservation groups have called on Emmanuel Macron, the French president, to “end the overexploitation of frogs” and afford the most traded species better protections.
Continue reading...Plans call for ‘zero-tolerance approach’ to groups such as Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Just Stop Oil
Ministers are considering proposals to ban MPs and councillors from engaging with groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil.
The plans, put forward by the government’s adviser on political violence, John Woodcock, say mainstream political leaders should tell their representatives to employ a “zero-tolerance approach” to groups that use disruptive tactics or fail to stop “hate” on marches.
Continue reading...Campaigners say decision against Danish Crown, Europe’s largest pork producer, sends resounding message
Europe’s largest pork producer misled customers with its “climate-controlled pork” campaign, Denmark’s high court has ruled in the country’s first climate lawsuit.
Campaigners argued that Danish Crown greenwashed its meat with round, pink stickers on its packaging that said pigs were “climate-controlled”, along with a marketing campaign that claimed its pork was “more climate-friendly than you think”.
Continue reading...Campaigners and human rights experts point to crackdown on climate and Gaza protests
The Conservatives have been accused by human rights experts of hypocrisy after cracking down on climate and Gaza protests while celebrating and endorsing farmers’ protests in Wales.
Rishi Sunak joined a protest of farmers in Wales last Friday, after they had obstructed a road while campaigning against the Labour government’s new farming subsidies scheme. But this week he vowed to crack down on protests, referring to them as “mob rule”. On Wednesday, the Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew Davies, along with many of his colleagues greeted and posed for photographs with farmers who formed a large group outside the Senedd and blocked a main road with tractors.
Continue reading...Attorney general’s attempt to end climate protesters’ use of consent defence is slippery slope, says KC
A UK government attempt to remove one of the last remaining defences for climate protesters would be a slippery slope to the erosion of the constitutional right to trial by jury, the court of appeal was told on Wednesday.
The attorney general, Victoria Prentis KC, is arguing that one of the last available defences being used by environmental protesters should be removed. Prentis is making the appeal in the case of a defendant known as C, after a string of acquittals by juries of defendants for acts of criminal damage involving daubing paint on buildings.
Continue reading...Visitors at Louvre look on in shock as Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece attacked by environmental protesters
Two environmental protesters have hurled soup at the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris, calling for “healthy and sustainable food”. The painting, which was behind bulletproof glass, appeared to be undamaged.
Gallery visitors looked on in shock as two women threw the yellow-coloured soup before climbing under the barrier in front of the work and flanking the splattered painting, their right hands held up in a salute-like gesture.
Continue reading...Switzerland’s KlimaSeniorinnen are taking the government to the European court of human rights for doing too little to tackle the climate crisis
The women, mostly in their 70s, strode up the mountain with dogged grace. Clacking their hiking poles against sun-cooked rocks, they set sure feet on shaky stones and held hands to cross slippery streams. They knew the heat and strain were a threat to their health – they were perhaps uniquely aware of the risks – but they did not plan to let it limit their lives.
“I’m a mountain climber,” said 73-year-old Pia Hollenstein, brushing away the hand I offered to help her down a big rock. “I can manage.”
Continue reading...Former Victorian premier gives first interview after resignation, saying ‘the haters hate and the rest vote Labor’. Follow the day’s news live
James Ashby to stand for One Nation in Queensland seat
James Ashby, the chief of staff to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, will stand for the party in the seat of Keppel at next year’s Queensland state election, AAP reports.
The Nationals are dead in Queensland’s parliament while the Liberals are lurching further left in their attempts to secure inner-Brisbane seats.
Continue reading...Thousands of activists attending climate conference in UAE, which has a poor record for demonstrations
Cop28 organisers and the UN body that oversees the annual climate conference have failed to clarify whether activists in Dubai are safe to demonstrate outside the conference area, putting civil society at risk in a country where protest is normally prohibited.
At least 80,000 people are registered to attend the conference, including thousands of activists and members of civil society, who normally hold protests around the conference area.
Continue reading...The UN’s Cop28 climate conference has kicked off in Dubai this week – but one notable absence will be the US president. Joe Biden pledged to make the fight against climate breakdown one of his top priorities when he took office, and news of his absence from this year’s gathering has frustrated activists.
Jonathan Freedland speaks to one such activist, Jerome Foster, who in 2021 became the youngest adviser to the White House when he was asked to sit on its environmental justice advisory council
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‘The biggest transformation in our country’s history’
Chris Bowen has been talking about Labor’s plans for reducing emissions, but he’s pressed on the fact that the government has been approving new coalmines and gas projects, which add to global emissions.
The way I see this, David, you can enter into a discussion with your international counterparts which we are doing which is us saying to them, “We will continue to be a reliable energy supplier but we want to work with you on your decarbonisation because we have advantages that you don’t have. We can provide renewable energy.” That is an important conversation to have.
Frankly the approach of others is more a slogan than a policy. We are making the biggest transformation in our country’s history and that involves both domestic policies and strong international engagements, as I will be doing over the next couple of weeks and we have been doing all the way through.
It will be treated in the budget statement of risks and liabilities in the normal fashion. But this is the right policy for the right times to ensure emissions come down and reliability goes up.
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‘A ceasefire is where we need to get to,’ Zoe Daniel says
Asked by RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas if she supports calls for a ceasefire, Zoe Daniel says:
If you call for a ceasefire, you’re letting down the Jewish community, if you don’t you’re allowing death and destruction to happen in Gaza.
At the end of the day, if I say to you right now, yes, I support ceasefire, that will make zero difference to what is happening in in Gaza.
I’m a former foreign correspondent. I know the logistics of this, of course, a ceasefire is where we need to get to, but you have a terrorist organisation in the middle of this. If there’s just a ceasefire, and there’s no capacity there to try to dismantle Hamas, does that allow Hamas to regroup? What does that actually lead to? That said, I’ve said to you before, very clearly, and I still stick to the position that the Israeli government has to adhere to international law and the rules of war, and I think, in some ways, has not been.
Continue reading...The Queensland Conservation Council says new entity will take ‘proactive actions’ to ensure state’s environmental laws are enforced
Queensland’s peak conservation group says it will launch a new “enforcement arm”, amid frustration at stalled government promises to establish an independent environmental regulator.
Every Australian state or territory – except Queensland – has an independent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Continue reading...‘Block Cop City’ plans non-violent march onto site of police center and a week of panels and screenings aimed at Black audiences
The movement against the police and fire department training center known as “Cop City” is planning two events for the coming weeks in and near Atlanta, Georgia – including a first-ever, non-violent protest march onto the project’s construction site.
The action, planned for 13 November and aimed at occupying the Cop City site for a day, could draw a thousand or more people from across the county. This would make it the largest protest to date at the location. The other event is a Black-led “week of action” the week before, aimed at Black audiences.
Continue reading...About 60% of oil and gas operations protected from protest due to money spent on lobbying, says Greenpeace USA report
Fossil fuel companies have spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign donations to state lawmakers who sponsored anti-protest laws – which now shield about 60% of US gas and oil operations from protest and civil disobedience, according to a new report from Greenpeace USA.
Eighteen states including Montana, Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, West Virginia and the Dakotas have enacted sweeping anti-protest laws which boost penalties for trespass near so-called critical infrastructure, that make it far riskier for communities to oppose pipelines and other fossil fuel projects that threaten their land, water and the global climate.
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