Failed MP, retired taxman & ‘birth striker’ among Extinction Rebellion protesters who took part in newspaper blockade
A FAILED MP, a retired taxman and a 'birth striker' are among the protesters who took part in Extinction Rebellion's newspaper blockade.
Dozens of eco-warriors stopped papers from being delivered across the country – leaving newsagents who were already hard-hit by the pandemic with empty shelves on Saturday morning.
Boris Johnson slammed the Extinction Rebellion protests in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, Knowsley and Glasgow as "completely unacceptable".
Among the ragtag who deliberately stopped Brits receiving their newspapers was Donnachadh McCarthy, who was the deputy chairman of the Liberal Democrats in the early 2000s.
He unsuccessfully stood against Labour's Harriet Harman as an MP in Peckham in 2001 – but he now judges himself as a "spokesman" for XR.
He attended the Broxbourne protest and is not believed to have been among those arrested.
McCarthy told the Mail: "We wanted people to wake up on Saturday morning and go to buy their paper and ask, “Why isn’t it here?”
"They may be angry, but in a few weeks’ time they may start paying attention to the warnings."
Lydia Dibben, 22, was also involved in compromising Britain's free press in the demonstration – calling herself a "birth striker."
Miss Dibben said she'll never have children for the sake of the environment.
She vowed at a rally last year: "How could I bring up a child in a world that doesn’t care about their future?
"I declare that I will not bear children, but I will continue the fight for climate justice, and hope that our actions will improve the future for all the children, of every species, that are already living on this beautiful planet."
Miss Dibben lives with her mother and jewellery designer father Jon, 53, in a £350,000 house in a village near Horsham.
She was charged with aggravated trespass over the blockade in Knowsley.
Donald Bell, 64, was hit by shrapnel from an IRA car bomb that killed two other soldiers in Stewartstown in 1974.
These days, he is fighting climate change.
In February, he was seen digging up the lawn at Cambridge’s Trinity College and was later arrested after gluing himself to a police van, telling reporters he had been writing letters to the Government for nearly 50 years but was always ignored.
Robert Possnett, 58, is a former Paratrooper who loves beer, good books – and causing disruption.
Mr Possnett describes himself as a "literary snob and real ale lover" on social media and boasted on Twitter of joining Friday night’s protest at the Broxbourne plant.
He has previously been convicted over his attendance at an XR protest.
His family live in a large chalet-style home in leafy Great Barton, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The property is full of books with the windows used as bookshelves.
One neighbour said: "Robert’s been campaigning for a long time now.
"He’s a lovely bloke who loves his beer but I’m sure a few people round here were upset this morning when they could not get their newspapers."
Richard Hallewell, 49, was also among the ragtag XR rebels.
The father of four from Thurston, Suffolk, is the director of two tech companies including a software firm.
He held the banner that blocked the road at Broxbourne, and said: "We have tried all the nice things, we have written to our MPs, we have done all those things and nothing happens."
Jon Fuller, an ex-civil servant at HM Revenue and Customs, was also behind the disruption led by the eco-warriors.
The 62-year-old is a veteran campaigner who was arrested by the pink boat in Oxford Circus in last year’s Extinction Rebellion protests.
He stood for Parliament as a Green Party candidate in Southend in 2015, coming fifth.
At Broxbourne, he told the Mail: "We beg the media to now tell the truth. We’re out of time."
Gully Bujak, a self-styled "actress, model and extra" was seen sprawled on a blow-up mattress atop a bus during the Hertfordshire protest.
The 27-year-old activist said: "The climate emergency is an existential threat to humanity.
"Instead of publishing this on the front page every day as it deserves, much of our media ignores the issue and some actively sow seeds of climate denial.
"To these papers we say this: you will not come between us anymore."
Mass protests which disrupt everyday life or hamper free speech will be banned after an Extinction Rebellion print blockade prevented millions from buying a newspaper.
Boris Johnson ordered tough new anti-insurgency laws last night to curb militants.
However, Diane Abbott has sparked fury after defending Extinction Rebellion blockades at newsprinters over the weekend as "legal" despite the 80 arrests.
Dominic Raab slammed the former shadow Home Secretary saying her comparison of the eco-extremists to the suffragettes was "perverse".
When asked about the protesters who disrupted the supply of millions of newspapers on Friday night Ms Abbott told Sophy Ridge on Sky: "I think it's important to remind ourselves that direct actions which is what those actions were are actually legal.
"These are legal tactics and we don't want to talk as if it's not illegal to take direct actions because direct action has been legal since the time of the suffragettes."
The Home Secretary Priti Patel has ordered a review of the law aimed at toughening sentences for the environmental extremists after their newspaper blockade.
The protests were organised despite newspapers campaigning and highlighting climate change for years – with The Sun running a comment piece from Sir David Attenborough urging the public to take the opportunity to tackle the climate crisis.
The eco-group said its aim was to "maintain the block and prevent these papers reaching newsstands" in a bid to “take on the titans of the media industry.”
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