2018 On 17 October 2018, activists from Extinction Rebellion held a sit-in at the UK headquarters of
Greenpeace, "to encourage their members to participate in mass civil disobedience as the only remaining alternative to avert the worst of the catastrophe" and join in future activities of Extinction Rebellion.
'Declaration of Rebellion' , 31 October 2018 An assembly took place at
Parliament Square, London on 31 October 2018, and drew more than a thousand people to hear the "Declaration of Rebellion"
Julia Bradbury, and
Green MEP Molly Scott Cato in the square. In the first two weeks of the movement in November 2018, more than 60 people were arrested for taking part in acts of
civil disobedience organised by Extinction Rebellion. Activists unveiled a "Climate Change... We're Fucked" banner over
Westminster Bridge and glued themselves to the gates of
Downing Street, near the prime minister's official residence, on 14 November. In the evening of 15 November a large group closed the access road to
Trafalgar Square outside the Brazilian Embassy in a joint action with Brazilian Women against Fascism UK.
'Rebellion Day' , 17 November 2018 On 17 November 2018, in what was called "Rebellion Day", about 6,000 people took part in a coordinated action to block the five main bridges over the
River Thames in London (
Southwark,
Blackfriars,
Waterloo, Westminster, and
Lambeth) for several hours, causing
major traffic disruption; 70 arrests were made.
The Guardian described it as "one of the biggest acts of peaceful civil disobedience in the UK in decades". Elsewhere in the UK there was a rally in
Belfast. Similar actions continued for the next two days in London, with one group moving to
Oxford Street on the afternoon of the discount shopping day
Black Friday. On 23 November, in a first action outside London, an Extinction Rebellion group in
York stopped traffic on
Coppergate,
Clifford Street,
Pavement and
Ouse Bridge, as well as holding a demo outside West Offices of the
City of York Council. An
Oxford XR group blocked traffic on
Botley Road on the same day.
'Rebellion Day 2' On "Rebellion Day 2", a week after the first, Extinction Rebellion blocked the roads around Parliament Square, before a mock funeral march to Downing Street and then onto
Buckingham Palace. XR co-founder Gail Bradbrook read out a letter to the
Queen, and one activist glued herself to the gates of the Palace, before the procession returned to Parliament Square. On 24 November there were actions outside London by XR groups in
Manchester,
Sheffield,
Machynlleth and
Edinburgh. On 15 December 2018, a professor of psychology was arrested for a "climate change graffiti attack" on the
Bristol Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) building, and a "die-in" was held at a local shopping center. On 21 December 2018, actions were staged at
BBC locations across the UK by Extinction Rebellion calling for a change in editorial policy, perceiving a "failure to report" on the "climate emergency." BBC headquarters in London was placed on lockdown.
2019 January – council actions On 25 January 2019, about 40 members of Extinction Rebellion staged a peaceful one-hour occupation of the Scottish Parliament's debating chamber in Holyrood, Edinburgh. Council chambers were also occupied by XR groups in Norwich on 11 February, and Gloucestershire, on 13 February, which included a mock trial of the council's "criminal negligence".
February – London Fashion Week in London, 22 February 2019 During
London Fashion Week in February, Extinction Rebellion organised actions to disrupt events, calling on the
British Fashion Council organisers to declare a 'climate emergency' and for the industry to take a leading role in tackling climate change. 'Swarming' roadblocks were held outside several venues; a couple of rebels wore living grass coats. Later in the week, designer and XR co-founder Clare Farrell, was barred from a fashion show by a label in which she had been involved with production.
March , leader of the
Portsmouth City Council, joining in an Extinction Rebellion protest in Portsmouth, 19 March 2019 On 9 March 2019, around 400 protesters staged a "Blood of Our Children" demonstration outside Downing Street, in which they poured buckets of fake blood on the road to represent the threatened lives of children. As
Portsmouth City Council passed a climate emergency motion, the 49th in the UK, protesters confronted leader
Gerald Vernon-Jackson outside Portsmouth Guildhall.
April – House of Commons naked demonstration On 1 April 2019, around 12 protesters were arrested after undressing and gluing themselves to the glass in the House of Commons viewing gallery during a debate on
Britain's intended departure from the European Union, with two of the protesters wearing grey body paint and elephant masks to draw attention to "the elephant in the room". XR activists attributed inspiration for the direct action to a
suffragette protest in Parliament in 1909, when (non-nude) protesters chained themselves to statues.
April – occupations in London , was located in Oxford Circus on 18 April Starting from Monday 15 April 2019, Extinction Rebellion organised demonstrations in London, focusing their attention on Oxford Circus,
Marble Arch,
Waterloo Bridge and the area around
Parliament Square. Activists fixed a pink boat named after murdered
Honduran environmental activist
Berta Cáceres in the middle of the busy intersection of
Oxford Street and
Regent Street (Oxford Circus) and glued themselves to it, and also set up several gazebos, potted plants and trees, a mobile stage and a skate ramp whilst also occupying Waterloo Bridge. Five activists, including XR co-founder Simon Bramwell, were arrested for criminal damage when they targeted
Shell's headquarters, near Waterloo. After the police imposed a 24-hour
Section 14 condition at 18:55 requiring activists to move to Marble Arch the police tried to clear Waterloo Bridge arresting 113 people, without gaining control of the bridge. On the second day of actions on Waterloo Bridge police began making arrests of the activists at 12.40 pm, but stopped a few hours later, after running out of holding cells. By the end of Tuesday 16 April an estimated 500,000 people had been affected by the disruptions and 290 activists had been arrested in London. In Scotland, more than 1,000 protesters occupied the North Bridge for seven hours in
Edinburgh, bringing one of the main routes into the city centre to a standstill. Police said they made 29 arrests. On the morning of Wednesday 17 April two activists climbed onto the roof of a
Docklands Light Railway train at
Canary Wharf station whilst another glued himself to the side, spreading disruption to railway services. The following day the three activists were charged with obstructing trains and after pleading not guilty sent to jail for four weeks, with no bail, whilst awaiting their next hearing. In response to the protests, the
British Transport Police suspended access to public Wi-Fi at
London Underground stations the same day. Towards the end of Wednesday a large force of police marched on the camp at Parliament Square, arresting people and partially removing roadblocks before it was retaken later the same night by protesters who arrived with a
samba band and re-established the roadblocks. At the start of Thursday 18 April, the fourth day of continuous occupations at four locations, the arrest figure had risen to 428, the majority for breaching public order laws and obstructing a highway. During the morning of 18 April about 20 XR activists spread traffic disruption wider with a series of swarming (short duration) roadblocks on
Vauxhall Bridge. after the closing ceremony on 25 April and this was attributed to the artist
Banksy. The slogan "From this moment despair ends and tactics begin" is a quotation from
The Revolution of Everyday Life. On the morning of 19 April, after significant media speculation about a threat to
Heathrow Airport, around a dozen teenagers, some aged 13 and 14, approached the access road holding a banner which read “Are we the last generation?” Some of the teenagers wept and hugged each other, as they were surrounded by a far larger squad of police. In the middle of the day police moved in force to surround the pink boat as
Emma Thompson read poetry from the deck, eventually removing the people who were either locked-on or glued to it. After seven hours police had moved the boat without clearing Oxford Circus. By late evening police said that 682 people had thus far been arrested in London. Another 4 protesters climbed on to a Docklands Light Railway train at Canary Wharf, and held the banners, which resulted in a short delay between
Bank and Monument station and
Stratford/
Lewisham station. 26 people were arrested. As of June 2019, one protester,
Angie Zelter, has been convicted of a public order offence for taking part in the occupations.
July – "Summer Uprising" on 16 July 2019 On 13 and 14 July a weekend of protest was held in East London, with a series of seven-minute
Dalston traffic blockades, a mass bike ride through the
A10,
Olympic park traffic blocks, a people's assembly outside
Hackney Town Hall, and all-day talks and panels in
London Fields. This was the predecessor to a "Summer Uprising" from 08:00 on 15 July to 11:00 on 20 July, in
Bristol,
Leeds,
Cardiff,
Glasgow and London. Protests in the different cities focused on different threats: rising sea levels, floods, wildfires, crop failures and extreme weather, with a different coloured boat marked "Act Now" and other messages in each location. There was significant disruption to traffic in protest locations.
September – London Fashion Week Extinction Rebellion targeted London Fashion Week (LFW) in September 2019 with a number of actions in order to raise awareness about the environmental damage caused by the
fashion industry—"the United Nations has said it uses more energy than the aviation and shipping industry combined". XR held a die-in outside LFW's official venue on 13 September. On 15 September it targeted
Victoria Beckham's show with a swarm and protesters holding placards. On 17 September, about 200 people held a
funeral march from Trafalgar Square to a H&M store and to an LFW venue on The Strand; and people gave speeches about the unsustainability of the fashion industry and
fast fashion.
September – Port of Dover blockade on 21 September 2019 On 21 September Extinction Rebellion
Dover tried to blockade the
Port of Dover by holding a legal protest on the westbound carriageway of the
A20, which police had temporarily designated for that purpose. Vehicles were diverted onto the
A2, but activists also superglued themselves to that road, blocking traffic in one direction. Giant banners were hung from
Dover Castle and from the
White Cliffs of Dover. The "No Food on a Dying Planet" action, which was concerned with the potential for food shortages resulting from climate change, was specifically held at Britain's busiest port because of the UK's "dependency" on food imports.
October On 3 October 2019 XR protesters used a fire engine to spray fake blood onto and around
HM Treasury in central London. On 6 October XR held an 'opening ceremony' at
Marble Arch attended by more than a thousand demonstrators. On 7 October, several thousand people had blocked locations across
Westminster district—135 demonstrators were arrested. Two days prior to a plan to shut down parts of central London for at least two weeks, police raided a former court building in
Lambeth partially being used as a preparation area, arresting ten people and removing solar panels, toilets and other equipment. The police were criticised for the use of pre-emptive arrests who countered that Extinction Rebellion were being irresponsible in their action of attempting to overwhelm police resources and that officers were being taken away from their core responsibilities.
International Rebellion protesters near
New York Stock Exchange As part of a two-week series of XR actions which they called "International Rebellion", to take place in more than 60 cities worldwide, Despite much, and sometimes heavy, rain throughout this period, the protests went ahead. On 6 October an 'opening ceremony' at Marble Arch was attended by more than a thousand people. On 10 October at
London City Airport, a sit-in was held at the exit of its
DLR railway station, with activists supergluing themselves to the floor. Two flights were delayed by activists who had purchased tickets. Other activists climbed onto the terminal roof while former
paralympian cyclist
James Brown climbed atop a
British Airways aircraft, livestreaming the event online. On 11 October, XR activists obstructed access to the
BBC's
Broadcasting House main doors.
Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium demonstrated with XR in London in April 2019, and was arrested, and later released, on 10 October after joining a sit-in protest at Trafalgar Square. She said "The more people from all sections of society protest, the greater the impact will be", and that, having the ear of high-ranking people, she raised climate issues whenever possible. Over 1000 arrests had been made by 11 October. On 12 October, XR held a "funeral procession" along Oxford Street which it claimed had 20,000 participants. The same day, animal rights activists of the group
Animal Rebellion (affiliated with XR) said 28 of their supporters were arrested while attempting to block access to
Billingsgate Fish Market. Beginning early on Monday 14 October, hundreds of XR activists occupied
Bank junction, outside the
Bank of England in the
City of London, London's financial district, focussing on the financial institutions "funding environmental destruction". During one action the Earthquakes affinity group held a theatrical 'You Can't Eat Money' protest outside the headquarters of global financial company BlackRock while members glued themselves to the building's entrance. That night police, controversially, banned all the Extinction Rebellion protests from the whole of London, starting at 9 pm. Around the same time, police began clearing people and tents that remained at the camp on Trafalgar Square, cutting free and arresting people who had locked themselves in place; Bradbrook "called on ministers to explain how their continued expansion of roads and airports fitted with a net-zero
emissions target." Mayor of London
Sadiq Khan, who would normally expect to work with the police, appeared to distance himself from the ban. Green Party MP
Caroline Lucas said the ban was a "huge over-reach of police power";
Liberty said it was "a grossly disproportionate move by the Met and an assault on the right to protest". XR applied for urgent
judicial review of the ban. On 16 October, mothers of infants held a sit-in outside
Google's London headquarters in King's Cross, in protest at the company's funding of climate deniers. At the same building, XR Youth climbed on top of the entrance to
YouTube, with a banner reading "YouTube, stop climate denial", On 17 October, XR activists targeted rail and underground services near to the
Canary Wharf financial district by climbing onto or gluing themselves to trains at
Shadwell,
Stratford and
Canning Town stations. At
Canning Town, a largely working-class neighbourhood, an activist was dragged from the top of a tube train and beaten by angry commuters. XR's lack of class and race awareness, and the confused message in blockading public transport, was highlighted by many in the media. In a statement, XR apologised; elsewhere, one XR spokesman said the protest was "a huge own goal" while others in XR appreciated the significant media attention that it generated. More than 3,700 people took part in an online poll in advance of the action with 72% against it "no matter how it is done". In response, some in the
affinity groups planning the action pulled out while others continued. Later, a protester
free solo climbed halfway up
Big Ben using the scaffolding currently surrounding it, and unfurled two large banners, reading: "No pride on a dead planet" and "Citizens Assembly". On 20 October, a protest performance piece was made in the
National Portrait Gallery against its sponsorship by
BP, who XR claims is "funding extinction". Three protesters lay on the gallery floor wearing only underwear while others poured fake oil over them; a monologue was given and information handed out. Although most ended their strike around 23/24 November, by 27 November a handful from Extinction Rebellion continued, stationed outside Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party headquarters in London. Their request was for all political party leaders to agree to meet them and pledge support for XR's Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill.
"Election Rebellion: Twelve Days Of Crisis" On 4 December about half a dozen activists dressed in yellow-and-black bee outfits held an action during
Liberal Democrats' campaigning for the
2019 UK general election in Streatham, south London. One such activist glued himself to the windscreen of the Liberal Democrats'
battle bus. On 9 December activists blockaded a central London road to demand the next government tackles
air pollution in London. They wore
gas masks and glued their hands to
breeze blocks in the middle of
Cranbourn Street, outside
Leicester Square tube station. Activists also blockaded
Great Ancoats Street in Manchester, a major route for commuters, during rush hour with a wooden construction and banners.
2020 February 2020 On 17 February, Extinction Rebellion members of the University of Cambridge assembled to dig up a patch of lawn outside of
Trinity College, as a protest against the college continuing to invest its endowments in oil and gas companies. The mud dug up was later taken to a local branch of
Barclays Bank.
September 2020 On 1 September 2020, Extinction Rebellion began 10 days of action called Autumn Rebellion, with activities in
Cardiff,
Manchester and
London. Protesters successfully blocked Parliament Square on the first day and demanded that Parliament support the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill, a private member's bill tabled by
Caroline Lucas. On 2 September, activists in Cardiff held a socially distanced beach party outside the Welsh Parliament, to highlight the impact of rising sea levels. Others glued themselves to the BBC Wales building. On 5 September 2020, XR blocked access to several printing presses owned by
Rupert Murdoch's
News Corp, disrupting the distribution of the company's newspapers
The Sun, The Times and
The Daily Telegraph. Distribution of
The Daily Mail and
London Evening Standard, which are printed by News Corp, was also affected. In a statement, XR said the action was designed to disrupt and expose what it called a failure to adequately report on the climate emergency: "Our free press, society and democracy is under attack – from a failing government that lies to us consistently … Our leaders have allowed the majority of our media to be amassed in the hands of five people with powerful vested interests and deep connections to fossil fuel industries. We need a free press but we do not have it." 72 arrests were made. In a statement on Twitter, Home Secretary
Priti Patel called the actions "an attack on our free press, society and democracy". After government officials considered reclassifying XR as an organised crime group, a number of public figures such as
Stephen Fry and
Mark Rylance criticised the government's move in an open letter, describing XR as "a group of people who hold the government to account". Also on 5 September, Police seized the "Lightship Greta", a mock
lightvessel bearing the slogan "sound the alarm, climate emergency", in
Kennington, South London. It had been pushed for six days from Brighton and was headed to Stratford, East London. The
Metropolitan Police confirmed that they had made over 600 arrests over the period.
2021 2021 G7 Summit During the
47th G7 summit in June 2021, hundreds
Impossible Rebellion A two-week series of protests based in London began on 23 August 2021, under the name "Impossible Rebellion". Demonstrations have variously focused on banks' continued investment in fossil fuels, new road infrastructure such as HS2, the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, treatment of animals on Crown Estate land and the fashion and fast food industry. Some days of protest have been themed around highlighting women and indigenous voices. The protests specifically aim to halt new investment in fossil fuels by the UK government, in addition to Extinction Rebellion's other goals.
COP26 protests Extinction Rebellion members were among the protesters at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), held in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021.
Black Friday blockades Members of Extinction Rebellion blockaded the UK distribution centers of
Amazon, protesting the company's environmental impact and treatment of workers. The blockades happened on
Black Friday as it was deemed one of the most profitable days for Amazon. Members chained themselves together and erected bamboo structures to disrupt deliveries from the centers across the UK.
2022 We Will Not Be Bystanders - April Rebellion 2022 In April 2022, activists from Extinction Rebellion, among them two Olympic athletes, blocked key bridges across London. Protesters had been arrested after climbing oil tankers, anchoring themselves to structures, or blocking roads at oil depots.
House of Commons - Speakers Chair On 2 September 2022, a group of around 50 activists took
nonviolent direct action at the
House of Commons to kick of the first phase of XRs September plans and point to the need for a
Citizens' Assembly on the
Climate and Ecological Emergency. 4 activists glued themselves in a chain around the
Speakers Chair inside the Parliamentary Chamber, 2 activists held two large banners in the great hall that read "Citizens' Assemblies Now" and "Let The People Decide" whilst outside the building 2 activists chained themselves to the railings and one climbed the scaffolding around
Big Ben with another giant banner reading "Let The People Decide - Citizens' Assemblies Now". A speech read out in the chamber said "We are in a crisis, and what goes on in this chamber every day makes a joke out of us all. We cannot afford to carry on like this"
2023 Extinction Rebellion, working with other organisations such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and unions staged four day of protest in central London from 20 April to 24 April. ==United States==