People who were protesting against climate change in the UK Parliament on Monday stripped down naked to grab the attention of lawmakers. A dozen demonstrators removed their clothes in the public gallery in front of politicians debating Brexit in Britain's House of Commons. Members of 'Extinction Rebellion' group stood naked with 'SOS' and 'stop wasting time' painted on their bodies. All the twelve protesters including both men and women were later arrested on suspicion of outraging public decency.
The group claimed the unusual act was "to call attention to the 'elephant in the room' — Climate and Ecological Crisis". Twelve protesters stood partially nude as MPs debated a series of indicative votes. The parliamentarians had met after UK lawmakers rejected the divorce deal struck between Prime Minister Theresa May's government and the European Union (EU), when protestors decided to highlight the issue of climate change. As pictures and videos of the naked protesters with their backs against the security glass went viral, Labour MP Peter Kyle joked calling it the 'naked truth' as he was distracted by the protestors during his speech. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Delivers Fiery Speech Defending Green New Deal, Says Climate Change Not an Elitist Issue (Watch Video)
Pictures of naked climate change protestors were soon to go viral:
BREAKING: Extinction Rebellion activists strip off in House of Commons public gallery to call attention to the ‘elephant in the room’ — Climate and Ecological Crisis #ExtinctionRebellion #TellTheTruth @HouseofCommons pic.twitter.com/VO8l31XRne
— Extinction Rebellion 🐝⌛️🐝 (@ExtinctionR) April 1, 2019
Tory MP James Heappey also photographed the naked people who had slogans including 'climate justice act now' and 'eco-collapse' on their backs. Extinction Rebellion said "two of the activists wore full grey body paint and elephant masks," and that they were inspired by "the suffragettes' protest in the same building over 100 years ago." They publicly stated their aim was to get their activists arrested sent to prison to draw attention to "ecological crisis". #StudentStrike4ClimateChange Trends As Indian Students Inspired by Nobel Peace Nominee Greta Thunberg Protest Against Climate Change.
Check out Extinction Rebellion's tweet below:
This is an emergency.
Our way of life is breaking the natural world.
Our leaders have failed us.
On 15 April we are calling for a full-scale Rebellion to demand decisive action from governments on climate change and ecological collapse. https://t.co/L2uM2MT26E pic.twitter.com/ozz9XtVQNm
— Extinction Rebellion 🐝⌛️🐝 (@ExtinctionR) April 1, 2019
In a statement released by Extinction Rebellion, Mark Ovland, one of the protesters, said that they took the step "because the most important and pressing issue of our time is being flagrantly and recklessly ignored by our government and media. By undressing in parliament, we are putting ourselves in an incredibly vulnerable position, highlighting the vulnerability that all of us share in the face of environmental and societal breakdown".
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 03, 2019 09:42 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).