London air pollution activists ‘prepared to go to prison’ to force action
Air pollution protesters say they are prepared to go to prison as they step up their campaign against the poisonous air that kills tens of thousands of people in the UK each year. A group of campaigners including pensioners and young parents, were arrested on Monday after targeting the offices of London mayor Sadiq Khan, spraying slogans on the walls calling for tougher action on air pollution. The group – called Stop Killing Londoners – has previously brought traffic to a standstill at some of the capital’s busiest junctions in a series of direct action protests highlighting the scale of London’s air pollution crisis. On Monday six of them were arrested and vowed to continue their protests until Khan takes more drastic action to improve the capital’s air quality. One of the protesters arrested, Genny Scherer, 67, said: “We all pay the price for the continuing illegal levels of air pollution. It threatens all our health and environment. I do not want to go to prison but I will if that is what it takes for our politicians to sit up and take action.” There is growing concern about the UK’s poisonous air that causes 40,000 early deaths a year. Last week an unprecedented joint inquiry by four committees of MPs described it as a “national health emergency”. In the report the super committee was scathing about the government’s clean air plans which have been judged illegal three times in the high court. The latest proposal, rejected by the high court earlier this year, was condemned as “woefully inadequate” by city leaders and “inexcusable” by doctors.
Posted by admin
on Mar 20 2018. Filed under News at Now.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
Loading ...