Journalist and Brexit leader Nigel Farage has branded eco-extremists Extinction Rebellion and its splinter group Insulate Britain “terrorists” who are willing to risk people’s lives for their cause.
Mr Farage made the remarks after Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam said that he would continue to block the road during a climate change protest even if he knew an ambulance carrying a dying patient was stuck in traffic.
Likewise, Insulate Britain’s spokesman Liam Norton has struggled to give a straight answer on whether he considered death and injury as a result of one of his protests an acceptable loss, recently comparing the issue to World War Two-era collateral deaths.
Speaking to Sky News Australia on Tuesday, Mr Farage said: “It isn’t just eco-alarmism. I rather changed my mind yesterday. When I saw the founder of Extinction Rebellion saying that he would stop an ambulance with a flashing light going to hospital, I now think these people have moved into the realms of being terrorists.
“They are prepared to risk the lives of other people just because they have this hysterical view that unless we go back and live in caves, billions of people are going to die.”
The British public also appeared to have tired of the group’s protests on Britain’s major roads, with a YouGov poll from Tuesday finding that a majority, 53 per cent, of Britons have an unfavourable view of Insulate Britain, including 36 per cent who have a “very unfavourable” view. Just 16 per cent had a favourable opinion of the group. Roughly the same sentiment was expressed across regions, sex, politics, Leave/Remain, age, and social grade.
On Monday, protesters had so infuriated members of the public, that motorists and a paramedic crew dragged away Insulate Britain activists on Wandsworth Bridge in an attempt to let an ambulance through. A large majority, 65 per cent of those polled by YouGov, said they backed the motorists with only nine per cent saying they supported the climate change protesters.
“The British public are getting very upset with this,” Mr Farage remarked.
“There’s not been enough action by government,” Farage continued, explaining the circumstances surrounding the incident at Wandsworth Bridge and warning that unless the government starts to crack down on the protesters, Britons will continue to take matters into their own hands.
“Unless our government gets a grip on this, arrest these people, put them in prison, then I fear it’s going to turn quite nasty on the streets,” he said.
Mr Farage also slammed the eco-extremists for going after the UK, which has been working to reduce its CO2 output, while ignoring large polluters like China,
The Brexit leader said: “The United Kingdom produces one per cent of global carbon dioxide. So rather than stopping people going to work, stopping people going to hospital, stopping people getting to the airport, disrupting people’s lives on a huge scale, maybe what they should be doing is protesting outside the Chinese embassy because whatever we do, frankly is irrelevant.”
According to a June 2021 document in the House of Commons library, in terms of the countries that released the most carbon dioxide, “The UK ranked 17th with 1.1% of global emissions. China produced 28% and was responsible for almost two-thirds of the growth in emissions since 2000.”