‘Truly Shameful’: Extinction Rebellion Hangs Eco-Messages on Remembrance Day War Memorial

Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion
Kurt Zindulka

The eco-extremist group Extinction Rebellion staged a protest on Wednesday at Britain’s national war memorial, the Cenotaph, hanging a wreath and a banner on the monument which read “Honour Their Sacrifice, Climate Change Means War”.

On the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day — a memorial day celebrated throughout the British Commonwealth to honour fallen soldiers — several eco-activists hijacked the proceedings in London to push their apocalyptic vision of supposedly man-made climate change.

Extinction Rebellion member Donald Bell, who served with the British Army in Northern Ireland, hung a wreath of poppies on the Cenotaph with the words “Climate Change Means War” and “Act Now”.

Political commentator Daren Grimes described the act as “truly shameful”, saying: “These privileged prats seem to be doing all they can to turn public opinion against them.”

Bell defended his actions, saying: “I took action today knowing that I would be criticised. I knew that I would be accused of being disrespectful and hated by many for speaking out in this way. Remembrance Day is never an easy time for veterans and this was not an easy decision for me to make.”

“However you feel about the action today, I want people to take this message – if we don’t deal with this climate emergency, now, it will lead to war,” Bell added.

In a press release, Extinction Rebellion said: “The action aims to highlight the connection between rising global temperatures and an increase in the incidence of conflict and war.”

Police were later seen removing the XR wreath from the war memorial.

The Cenotaph has increasingly become a target for left-wing activists in the British capital in recent months. In June, a Black Lives Matter activist was filmed trying to burn the Union Jack that adorns the memorial. Earlier this month, Astrophel Sang pleaded guilty to committing attempted arson on the British flag.

Amidst the height of the Black Lives Matter unrest in the country following the death of American George Floyd, Extinction Rebellion activists defaced the statue honouring British wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill, scrawling the words “is a racist” on the Parliament Square monument.

In line with the group’s disdain for Sir Winston, in November of last year one of the co-founders of the eco-warrior group, Roger Hallam, described the Holocaust as “just another fuckery in human history”.

Hallam said that the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime — which led to the death of six million Jews — were nothing more than a “regular event”, explaining that “millions of people have been killed in vicious circumstances on a regular basis throughout history”.

Last year alone, It is estimated that the cost of policing Extinction Rebellion in London was at least £37 million, with police spending some £21 million during the group’s ‘Autumn Rising’.

Between 2016 and 2019, at least 45 eco-extremists were referred to the government’s ani-extremism Prevent programme, which seeks to prevent young people from joining extremist or terrorist groups.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here: @KurtZindulka

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