Paris: Extinction Rebellion settles on the Grands Boulevards to denounce “climate inaction” – archyde

After blocking four bridges in London on Friday, disrupting traffic in the British capital, the environmental group Extinction Rébellion took over part of the Grands Boulevards, in the center of Paris, on Saturday morning, in order to make it “a large agora” during the Easter weekend, to discuss the climate emergency. On about 300 meters of the boulevards of Bonne-Nouvelle and Saint-Denis, activists blocked traffic around 9:45 a.m., quickly setting up a barricade of haystacks, and organizing sit-ins at the ends as well as at the mouth of the adjacent streets. Many of them had attached themselves to heavy containers filled with cement, to hinder a possible evacuation, explained one of them. In the front line facing a few CRS, about fifteen were facing, seated in a meditation position. A large banner blocked the road, like a theater curtain: “This world is dying, let’s build the next one”, while the activists, waving colorful flags, repeated slogans such as “We are hot, hot, hot, hotter than the climate.”1000 activists, according to the policeThe police remained discreet at the start of the afternoon, controlling access and checking the contents of certain bags. A flea market continued on a sidewalk, a guide described the Porte Saint-Denis to a small group of tourists, the metro remained open, car traffic was only slightly disturbed on this very calm Saturday morning. At 11 am, she estimated that 1,000 activists were there. “We planned to stay three days”, until Monday evening, said a spokeswoman. “The electoral process no longer meets the needs of the population” in ecological matters, she explained, considering in particular that the citizens’ convention on the climate had turned into a “masquerade”. “We call on citizens to join us”, launched the spokesperson, promising conferences and talks. An action decided at the end of JanuaryThis action between the two rounds of the presidential election was decided at the end of January, said the spokesperson, who denounces that the ecological debate has been “invisibilized”. And Extinction Rebellion to castigate “our leaders, our aspirants to power, those who for more than 30 years have not ceased to shine by their inaction, by their contempt and by their lack of courage in the fight against climate change. “. Its goal being, according to a press release, “another democracy that is not built around profit and infinite growth, but around ecological and social justice”. “We reject far-right ideas, of course” , she clarified. “The blocking and occupation of public space will intensify,” she warned, insisting that the non-violent nature of the movement. Several days of occupation in Châtelet in 2019 This is not the first times that Extinction Rebellion also puts on an action of this kind in Paris. In the fall of 2019, the environmental group notably blocked the Châtelet district for several days. Already denouncing the inaction of politicians to fight against global warming, several hundred activists then settled in the heart of the capital. A few days earlier, they had also occupied the Italy 2.VIDEO shopping center. In 2019, Extinction Rébellion blocked the Place du ChâteletIn the process, the movement, also called XR and born in the United Kingdom in 2018, had again unfurled a banner on the Eiffel Tower, attempted a new occupation but this time on the Boulevard Saint- Germain or even sabotaged more than 3,000 self-service scooters in Paris.