Animal Rebellion activists scale Westminster building

Environmental activists scaled a Government building in Westminster at around 6am this morning (26th October), and say they plan to stay there "indefinitely".

Four campaigners from Animal Rebellion, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, used ladders, ropes and harnesses to climb the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) office as high as "20 metres".

Animal Rebellion spokesman Nathan McGovern told us: "Four activists have scaled the sides of the Home Office and Defra building. This is to show the Government the world is watching ahead of Cop26 next week.

"World leaders are talking about the climate crisis and how to mitigate it, and that is a conversation that cannot be had without discussing the role of animal agriculture. It is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation.

"The Government needs to transition to a just and sustainable plant-based food system, by defunding meat, dairy and fish industries among the rest of animal agriculture."

The group, which also let off flares, says it's demanding an end to subsidies for meat and dairy farming in a protest against climate change.

The activists plan to stay in place until Boris Johnson pledges to urge all world leaders to also end such subsidies when they attend the Cop26 summit in Glasgow next week (31st October to 12th November) .

The Met Police are at the scene with the fire service and are communicating with the protesters, although no arrests have been made.

In a statement on Twitter they said:

Activist Claudia Penna Rojas said: "We are here in the lead-up to Cop26 demanding that the Government takes drastic action by transitioning to a plant-based food system as the science tells us we need to."

She acknowledged that "not everyone will be willing to give up meat immediately" but "what we are asking is for the Government to be responsible, to stop subsidising animal agriculture - dairy, meat - and begin subsidising more ethical, sustainable ways of farming".

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• animal rebellion
• Climate change
• Climate crisis
• animal rights