Over 1000 Extinction Rebellion Activists Were Arrested In April – This Is What Happened To Them

He first heard of Extinction Rebellion last year and decided to go and watch a smaller bridge-blocking protest that took place in November. By March this year he had decided to get involved and took part in non-violent direct action training.

The tactic used by Extinction Rebellion is for activists to not resist arrest, but they don’t co-operate either. The key way they do this is to go limp when they come into contact with the police. 

“After you do the training, you split up into your local areas and form what’s called an infinity group. You have different roles so if you have 10 people, you might have two or three who are up for getting arrested,” the activist says.

The other people take on different roles including wellbeing, arrestee support and legal observers. This meant XR were easily able to ensure those who got arrested felt supported. 

“There were four people waiting for me outside with food and drink. It was lovely. They gave me a lift back,” he says.

“I was a little bit nervous and as soon as they arrest you, it kind of sets in what you have done. It was mainly just boring though. We were kept in a room for nearly 24 hours because they were deciding whether to charge us or not.” 

Solicitors working pro-bono were on hand to provide legal advice about what to say in interviews and if they were charged.

Later legal firms took on groups of protestors as clients if at least two or three of the group were able to claim legal aid. Others, particularly those who have decided to plead guilty like Lawson, have chosen to represent themselves. 

The man’s family are behind him – his mum had actually travelled down from Yorkshire to take part in April’s protest herself – but some of his friends are bemused by his willingness to get arrested. 

He says he is convinced Extinction Rebellion needs to step things up and people need to be willing to go to prison, because he believes nothing will change unless people are willing to make a sacrifice. 

“The situation is so bad, I don’t think people are really aware of the consequences. When we talk about the climate and how there will be food shortages due to harvests failing, people aren’t really putting the two together and realising it will mean society is going to breakdown. We aren’t preparing for this.

“Climate denial is still happening and you are hear commentators on talk radio shows just openly calling us eco-loons and nutcases and saying it’s a cult. They are trying to make out we are doom-mongers but it’s becoming backed more and more by science. We are not crazy.

“It’s becoming clear, we are heading for something quite bad now and it could only be five or ten years away.”