Nigel Harvey arrested at Extinction Rebellion action in London

Nigel Harvey, CEO of WEEE scheme Recolight, was arrested at an Extinction Rebellion protest in Parliament square on Tuesday 1st September.

Harvey was arrested around 2.30pm. He was one of over 250 arrested in and around Parliament Square over the first two days. The protestors were socially distanced and wore face masks. He was seated peacefully on the ground when arrested, taken to Sutton police station and released at 9pm. He was not charged or cautioned, but “released under investigation”.

Harvey was also arrested during the Extinction Rebellion protests in London in October 2019.

Nigel Harvey said “The science is crystal clear – we are in a climate emergency. And although we have only hit 1.1 degrees of global heating so far, the impacts are already being felt around the globe. More fires in Australia, California and Siberia. More extreme weather events such as hurricanes in Southern Africa and the US. Ice sheets and glaciers are melting. More flooding and heatwaves in Europe. The wheat crop in the UK is down 40% this year. One in five species on earth now faces extinction. And sadly, this is just the start. It will get much worse.”

“The Covid crisis has shown that Governments can take decisive action when necessary. And yet, when it comes to the climate emergency, head-in-the-sand attitudes still prevail.”

“I know that the lack of decisive action by Governments around the world is likely to result in hundreds of millions of deaths, and will make large parts of the world unliveable. I cannot, in good conscience, stand aside. So again, I have been willing to be arrested to draw attention to the urgent action we all need. The very real risks to the lives and livelihoods of our children and grandchildren are too awful to contemplate.”

“I have spent the last decade trying to reduce my carbon footprint, and helping others to do so. And yet emissions keep on rising. Conventional lobbying does not work, because no politician will take the tough decisions that are needed. They are focused on the short term of the parliamentary cycle. We have run out of time and non-violent civil disobedience is the only route left open. It worked for Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks in the US Civil Rights movement. It worked for Ghandi and Indian independence. And it can also work for Climate Emergency.”