Extinction Rebellion in Cambridge

The burial at Shire Hall
This morning and afternoon Susanna and I, along with a four other attenders of the Cambridge Unitarian Church, took part on the first day of local action in Cambridge connected with the Extinction Rebellion, part of a National Day of Action.

The event began in front of the Grafton Centre (Fitzroy St end near Coop bank), then moved to the Grand Arcade (Susanna took part in these events) and thence on to Market Square and Shire Hall County Council offices at the top of Castle Hill where we buried a symbolic coffin and planted a real tree (I took part in these events).

In the Market Square 
The procession ended with a funeral ceremony at Shire Hall, mourning all the life we've lost, are losing and will continue to lose because of climate breakdown.

In this post are a few photos I took along the way from Market Square to Shire Hall. Just click on a photo to enlarge it.

As the local Extinction Rebellion Facebook page notes:

We rebel because we love this world. It breaks our hearts to see it ravaged, to watch so many people, plants and animals all over this world already dying, to know that this will soon happen to our children if nothing changes. There is no way forward without giving voice to our grief.

Please bring a wreath, flowers, pictures of communities hit by climate breakdown already, or pictures of extinct/endangered animals to lay on the coffin.

At the Shire Hall
Children and teenagers are very welcome — we’d love to have them there and there’s nothing dangerous going to happen! However, the themes of Extinction and Death will be dealt with fairly explicitly so please consider how your particular children will react to this, and how to help them respond if bringing them.

We demand that Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council declare a Climate Emergency and take urgent action to avoid climate catastrophe.

We act in peace, with ferocious love of our world in our hearts. We act on behalf of life.


In the Market Square
➜➜➜ FAMILIES, SAFETY, POLICE AND NON-VIOLENCE

Everyone is welcome to come along to this event and exercise their human right to peaceful protest if they agree to the commitment to non-violence.

Though no one cannot fully predict what the police will do, arrest or attack on non-violent citizens is very unlikely.

If you choose to speak to the police or police liaison officers we recommend you don’t tell them your name or any details. ➜ Please do not tell them or give away the names of other people. Talk to them about the weather, pay-cuts and added job pressure due to austerity, and the need for them to break the chain of command at some point – in order to follow their own conscience and protect what they love too. However, always remember they are paid to do a role in society, and that the role they are in may ask them to turn on you very quickly.

If you are planning to attend please read the Extinction Rebellion Action Consensus: 

https://rebellion.earth/rebellion-day/action-consensus

Also please read this legal briefing:

https://rebellion.earth/legal-briefing/

In the Market Square

At the Shire Hall

At the Shire Hall

At the Shire Hall

At the Shire Hall

At the Shire Hall

At the Shire Hall

At the Shire Hall

At the Shire Hall

At the Shire Hall

At the Shire Hall

At the Shire Hall

Comments

huw said…
Well played! We left before the final burial, tempted away by the lure of cheesy chips in the Issaac