UK Treasury sprayed with fake blood as climate activists ask to 'stop funding climate death'

UK Treasury building was sprayed red with fake blood made from water and food dye by climate activists, four of whom were arrested

By AFP

October 03, 2019

Extinction Rebellion protesters demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London, Britain, October 3, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

LONDON: Members of the environmental activist group, Extinction Rebellion, on Thursday used a decommissioned fire engine to spray fake blood over the front of Britain's finance ministry in London.

Protesters — who sprayed 1,800 litres of the fake blood outside the Treasury — also held up banners at the site demanding Britain "stop funding climate death".

Extinction Rebellion protesters demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London, Britain, October 3, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

Extinction Rebellion said it staged the protest to show "the inconsistency between the UK government's insistence that the UK is a world leader in tackling climate breakdown, and the vast sums it pours into fossil fuel exploration and carbon-intensive projects".

The liquid was water coloured with food dye, it added.

London's Metropolitan Police said four people — three men and one woman — were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage following the incident.

Extinction Rebellion protesters demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London, Britain, October 3, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

"People on a privately-owned fire engine had sprayed a liquid at the Treasury building," it added in a statement.

"No reported injuries."

Workers clean after protesters from climate group Extinction Rebellion sprayed fake blood on and outside the Treasury building — in a demonstration to draw attention to global heating and "climate breakdown" — in central London, Britain, October 3, 2019. AFP/Tolga Akmen

It comes ahead of a planned day of "international rebellion" on Monday in more than 60 cities around the world.

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