Conservative MP Mark Field has today been suspended from his position as a Minister in the Foreign Office, after footage emerged of him grabbing a female climate change protestor at last night’s Mansion House speech by the Chancellor. Field has said he regrets the incident, in which he pushed a protestor walking past his chair against a marble pillar, and held her by the neck as he marched her away from the Chancellor’s speaking area. He insisted he was worried the protestor may have been armed.
Business Green 21st June 2019 read more »
BBC 21st June 2019 read more »
Times 22nd June 2019 read more »
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FT 21st June 2019 read more »
The protester who was manhandled by a Tory minister at a black tie dinner has said that the politician should be given anger management classes. Footage showed Janet Barker, 40, a Greenpeace activist, being shoved against a pillar by Mark Field, a Foreign Office minister, before he took hold of her neck and frogmarched her out of the annual Bankers’ and Merchants’ Dinner at Mansion House in central London.
Times 22nd June 2019 read more »
The environment we’re protesting in is scary at the moment, but not because of trolls or even individual acts of violence from people who behave like Field. It’s the clampdowns by corporations and the legal system on our democratic right to protest that fills me with fear. The mass injunctions brought in by fracking companies, and the terrorism charges brought against the Stansted 15. These are the things we need to resist. I’m hopeful despite all this: earlier today I attended the Youth Strike 4 Climate, joining thousands of children and young people on London’s Westminster Bridge, who walked out of school to demand protection of our planet’s future. They will not be bullied into inaction. There will always be an appetite and need for protest and with 70% of British people wanting to see more urgent action on climate change, more and more people are willing to stand up, sit down, lie down, or do whatever else it takes for the government to listen. There has never been a better time than now to step up and take action, in defence of those around the world suffering the harshest impacts of the climate crisis, and in defiance of those who wish to stop us.
Telegraph 21st June 2019 read more »
Kezia Dugdale: Well the week of action is over. The guy ropes on the campsite tents have been cut and Extinction Rebellion have left the grounds of the Scottish Parliament. What have they achieved? Have they encouraged mass cultural change in the general population? Have they shaped public policy to reflect their aims? Have they made a nuisance of themselves, and simply annoyed the very people they need on their side to succeed? I remain to be convinced that their tactics have achieved anything substantive at all, except tying up police resources that could have been utilised elsewhere and frustrating movement across the city.
Scotsman 22nd June 2019 read more »
