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Extinction Rebellion plans Windsor Castle protest to challenge King
Climate group writes to monarch, informing him of its plans to ‘bring thousands to his door’ at the end of next month
Extinction Rebellion has organised a protest at Windsor Castle in a challenge to the King – who will be in Scotland.
The campaign group has announced plans to stage a mass occupation of Windsor Great Park from Aug 30 until Sept 1, citing the King’s well-documented passion for the environment.
The group has written to the monarch, informing him of its plans to “bring thousands to his door” and urging him to help facilitate the protest. However, he will be on his annual summer holiday at Balmoral in Scotland, some 500 miles away.
Buckingham Palace is aware of Extinction Rebellion’s plans, and said the protest was a matter for the police.
Announcing the protest, the group quoted from a book called Harmony, written by the King when he was the Prince of Wales in 2010.
“This is a call to revolution,” he wrote in the introduction. “The Earth is under threat. It cannot cope with all that we demand of it. It is losing its balance, and we humans are causing this to happen.”
Extinction Rebellion said it had chosen to occupy Windsor Great Park because the King “clearly understands the plight of the planet” and the urgent need for change.
It acknowledged that he is expected to be less vocal on the topic now he is monarch, as it is considered “too political”.
The group insisted that the protest would not target an individual but “the system”, in which it said money and power was “concentrated in the hands of a few”. It is unclear whether it considers the King an ally or part of the problem.
He has been personally invited to join the protest, along with “all people of good hearts and good conscience” who can look forward to “three days of beauty, community, action and democracy”.
The group wrote to the King on June 13, warning that, without radical change to democracy, politicians would “fail us again and again”.
It said: “We will bring thousands to your door in Windsor to protest at the failure of our government to act on the science of climate change and ecological collapse.
“We refuse to bequeath a dying planet to future generations by failing to act now. We act in peace, with ferocious love of these lands in our hearts. We act on behalf of life.”
Catherine Bartlett, of Extinction Rebellion UK, said: “Windsor Castle has been chosen as an embodiment of a broken and unjust system, where our message will resonate powerfully. The general election has neither fixed our broken system nor addressed the urgent action needed to tackle the climate and nature emergency.
“Aristocrats, oligarchs and corporate interests have infected and distorted our politics and media for their own benefit and at our expense. Our politics is failing us from top to bottom. It’s time for a democratic upgrade. We demand better at all levels.”