83-Year-Old Climate Activist Arrested For Climbing Train During Peak Hour
Phil Kingston clambered atop a carriage, popped a protest sign around his neck and held a prayer vigil before munching on his packed lunch.
It was 7 am on Thursday, but it was also Kingston's 83rd birthday.
The long-time protestor and retired parole officer was among at least five demonstrators, all members of the Christian Climate Action, who disrupted the morning commute for thousands at Canary Wharf in London, England.
They held banners reading "business as usual = death" and "don't jail the canaries" until authorities removed them with ropes, ladders and harnesses and arrested the group on the spot.
"I’m here because I have a belief that there is something greater than us, which tells me that we don’t own this earth,” Kingston said.
“The more we take, the less there is for future generations,” he continued. “Like all parents and grandparents, I want a future”.
On the very same day, demonstrators glued themselves to each other, blocking the London Stock Exchange and Westminster building.
One particular protester even glued her breasts to the road outside the Goldman Sachs offices.
The coordinated actions across the city were organised by Extinction Rebellion, a movement founded last year which urges the government to "tell the truth" about the scale of the climate crisis.
It wants the UK to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025.
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Tens of thousands of people have been involved in 10 straight days of protests, blockades and disruption across London which has seen 1,100 others arrested and more than 10,000 police officers deployed.
Among the demonstrators was Dame Emma Thompson, who flew all the way from Los Angeles to join the protests, and Greta Thunberg, 16, who started a global school strike movement.
The action has now come to an end.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Hyde Park on Thursday night for a so-called "closing ceremony".
The group sat on the grass next to Speaker's Corner - widely considered London's home of free speech - where they were told by group coordinator Skeena Rathor to "begin a process of reflection".
"Thank you for what you have done this week. It is enormous. It is beyond words," she added.
"We would like to thank Londoners for opening their hearts and demonstrating their willingness to act on that truth," event organisers said on their Facebook page.
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"We know we have disrupted your lives. We do not do this lightly. We only do this because this is an emergency."