“bunker mentality”
Because of action against Sunak: London slams the door to Greenpeace
08/07/2023 8:21 p.m
Greenpeace activists start a demonstration at a private home of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The reason is the British energy policy. After the action, the government is now excluding cooperation with the environmental organization – which immediately finds harsh words for it.
After a demonstration by Greenpeace activists at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s private house against British energy policy, the government suspended cooperation with the environmental organization. “Of course, we believe that people who are accused of breaking the law should not sit at the table in discussions with the government,” Sunak’s spokesman said on Monday. It is not unusual for the Ministry of the Environment to speak to Greenpeace. “But given their actions and the arrests made last week, we clearly do not see fit to involve them.”
Last week, four Greenpeace activists partially covered Sunak’s house in his northern England constituency with black fabric in protest at new licenses for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. To do this, they had climbed onto the roof of the listed building. Sunak and his family were on vacation at the time of the incident.
“Have to protest like this”
Greenpeace stressed that the organization ensured that nobody was at home during the protest. The police temporarily arrested a total of five people. After the action, new demands arose for better protection of politicians’ privacy.
Greenpeace accused the government of having a “bunker mentality”. “Buking your head in the sand will not let the climate crisis pass,” said the organization’s UK co-head Will McCallum. “Precisely because the government has effectively slammed the door on civil society groups like Greenpeace and ignored warnings from the United Nations, its own advisers and the International Energy Agency, we must protest the way we are doing it.”