From Bad to Worse: Climate Extremists Capitalise on Energy Crunch, Plan to Block UK’s Oil Refineries

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 25: Environmental campaigners from the "Extinction Rebellion&
Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images
Nathaniel Charles

Britain’s radical eco-protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR) announced they plan to block oil refineries in April to protest the UK’s use of fossil fuels, potentially compounding the looming energy crisis fed by the Ukraine conflict.

The controversial environmentalist protest group have declared their oil refinery blockade – at undisclosed locations – will begin on the 9th of April, saying on their website that they plan to “demand an end to the fossil fuel economy” and for the UK Government to “immediately” “end fossil fuel investments”.

Extinction Rebellion has advised their activists to book time off work between April 9th to 17th, and following the refinery blockades, they aim to shut down central London with “highly disruptive” roadblocks that they vow will be the most they have deployed. The group pledged, as they generally tend to, to only stop when “the fossil fuel economy comes to an end”.

The “disruptive” protest group has called for unity among climate protest groups, revealing they are prepared to team up with other eco-outfits in an effort to “streamline” their extremist tactics.

In 2021 ‘Insulate Britain’, a splinter group from XR blocked multiple main roads and caused mass disruption across the UK. The frustration felt over the protests was such that some members of the public felt it was necessary to drag them out of the road, when police refused to intervene.

The group appear to be willingly capitalising on the ongoing fuel and energy crisis in Britain as a spokesperson has revealed they selected this period because “now is the time, this is the moment”, Sky News reports.

The UK government has already basically conceded to the green lobby and have pledged for Britain to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 – an unpopular move that has received widespread criticism after it was revealed it would cost ordinary people huge amounts of money.

This however is not enough for the radical environmentalists, as Clare Farrell, Extinction Rebellion’s co-founder has insisted that “we are out of time”, and “we need to decarbonise and to do so as fast as possible”, as fossil fuels “pollute our cities, poison ourselves and our children”.

“We face an ongoing cost of living crisis with fossil fuel companies making record-breaking massive profits”, Farrell said.

 

XR seem well funded, offering on their website to pay for activist’s “food, accommodation and transport subsidies”.

The protests will come as Britain is facing a growing energy crisis exacerbated by the intensification of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

 

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