Haringey resident arrested at climate protest

Greta Thunberg was also among those arrested by police, reports Miriam Balanescu

A Haringey resident is among 26 people to have been charged in connection with a climate protest in central London.

Heather Inman was charged with failing to comply with a condition imposed under Section 14 of the Public Order Act after she protested yesterday (17th October) alongside Greta Thunberg at London’s InterContinental Hotel on Park Lane.

Metropolitan Police responded to the Fossil Free London protest and said they “imposed conditions to prevent disruption to the public”.

After police asked protestors to move from the road onto the pavement, 27 protestors were arrested and 26 later charged.

Heather and seven others charged with breaching a condition imposed under Section 14 were bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 20th November.

Protestors gathered at the hotel hoping to meet Anders Opedal, CEO of Equinor, a company proceeding with a contentious oil bank along the Scottish coast. Well-known climate campaigner Greta Thunberg was in attendance and also arrested by police.

Pascal Hartig, an organiser with Fossil Free London, said: “This past year we have lived through a crisis of inequality, where our energy bills have spiralled out of control to fund the record-breaking profits of the fossil fuel industry. The Government is asking for more of the same by approving the Rosebank oil field for fossil fuel giant Equinor. It is a carbon bomb and they want the UK public to fund it through tax breaks and subsidies. We cannot afford more fossil fuels like Rosebank.”

Lauren MacDonald, campaigner with the Stop Rosebank campaign, said: “If he didn’t before, Equinor’s boss now knows that he has a fight on his hands. There is massive public opposition to Rosebank in the UK, from scientists, charities, religious communities and across our politics. Equinor and Norway stand to make huge profits from its development, but the UK government’s case for approving it has fallen apart. Rosebank is taxpayer-subsidised oil for export, which will only make the climate crisis worse. Rosebank is indefensible and Equinor needs to stop it.”

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