Extinction Rebellion has claimed allegedly man-made climate change is “100 times a greater threat to humanity” than the Chinese coronavirus while vowing to launch cyberattacks against the Labour Party for supporting a bailout of the beleaguered airline industry.
The eco-extremist group is reported to have sent a letter to Shadow Transport Secretary Jim McMahon, which threatened to launch “direct action protests” against the Labour party if it continued to call on the government to bail out the Virgin Atlantic airline. The group forwarded the warning to the Liberal Democrats as well.
Last week, the Labour Party called on the government to step in and bail out Virgin Atlantic after the airline company announced a plan to cut 3,150 jobs during the coronavirus crisis.
A Green Party campaigner and a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion, Rupert Reid told The Times that the activists are full of “rage” over Labour backing the airline.
Reid said that in response to the perceived betrayal the group is looking into ways of creating “difficulties digitally” for the Labour Party as well as taking “physically-distanced actions” outside the party’s headquarters in London.
The climate change alarmist group has a longstanding opposition to air travel, which they claim contributes to global warming and have taken several high profile ‘actions’ against the industry.
In October, a member of Extinction Rebellion climbed on top of a plane at London City Airport, glueing himself to the plane as hundreds of protestors descended in order to “occupy” the airport and disrupt travel.
The group also threatened to protest at major British airports with drone attacks, by flying the unmanned vehicles into protected spaces and thereby forcing air traffic control officials to ground planes due to safety concerns.
“The aviation industry needs to be targeted and we are all aware of the deep, structural change that needs to come,” the group wrote in another call to ‘action’.
Extinction Rebellion rose to prominence after they conducted a series of protests in London to “shut down” the city.
The cost of policing the protests in London totalled over £37 million last year alone— more than double the annual budget of the Violent Crime Taskforce, which is only £15 million.
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