Emma Thompson BACKS Just Stop Oil after they defaced Stonehenge
- The march began at Hyde Park at 12.30pm with protesters carrying banners
Dame Emma Thompson backed Just Stop Oil only days after they defaced Stonehenge.
The actress, 65, led thousands of people on a march in London aimed at persuading politicians to prioritise nature and climate.
More than 350 charities, businesses and direct action groups were taking part in the Restore Nature Now march on Saturday, along with Dame Emma, businessman Dale Vince and naturalists Chris Packham and Steve Backshall.
Asked whether she backs the controversial group, which this week attacked Stonehenge with orange paint, the actress said: ‘I think I support anyone who fights this extraordinary battle.
‘We cannot take any more oil out of the ground. I mean, there’s much argument about it. And I know there’s a lot of very complicated economic arguments about it.
Dame Emma Thompson leading a climate march in London along with Just Stop Oil
The actress walking at the front of the march, clinging on to a banner which read restore Nature Now as she marches alongside Dale Vince and former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas
Demonstrators marching during the Restore Nature protest in central London. Protesters carried banners and placards and one even wore a bird’s nest bike helmet
The Red Rebel Brigade walked alongside other climate protesters in the march in Central London that was endorsed by actresses Emma Thomson and Dame Judi Dench
Dame Emma posing with activists who held up signs saying ‘Stop killing our life support system’
‘… we have to leave all the resources in the ground, we cannot bring them out of the ground.’
The actress told Sky News that the UK is one of the most nature depleted country in the world.
She added: ‘This is our country and our commons and we need it to survive.’
‘We passed the tipping point a long time ago and if we don’t act we won’t be able to claw back our wilds so we really really need to deal with intensive agriculture.’
The march began at Hyde Park at 12.30pm and protesters walked calmly in a line, led by the Love, Actually actress and Packham who held a banner reading Restore Nature Now.
Other banners reading There’s No life Without Wildlife, There Isn’t A Reset Button and Make MPs A Rare Species were visible in a sea of green foliage and wildlife cut-outs as people marched past Hyde Park and towards Whitehall.
Two 3D birds hovered at the front of the march, along with a bright blue butterfly and umbrellas coated in green mock foliage.
People carried soft toy birds, wore animal masks and waved flags as the march processed.
Chants of ‘Restore nature now’ echoed down the line of protesters, as people rang bells, whistled and cheered.
Packham said it was the first time organisations across the entire spectrum of campaigning and conservation have united, from the National Trust to Just Stop Oil.
Hundred of protesters walked across London carrying signs that read ‘Give nature her rights’ and ‘restore nature now!’
As well as carrying banners Climate activists sported homemade hats featuring British wildlife including foxes and badgers
Dame Emma posing with a peace sign at climate protests in 2019 that brought chaos to London
Despite Emma’s outspoken stance on the climate, the national treasure has previously been accused of hypocrisy for her first-class flying habit.
The left-wing actress was spotted jetting to New York in 2019 just days after backing climate protests that brought chaos to London.
The Labour supporter took her personal booth in the luxury cabin of a British Airways flight from Heathrow to JFK despite previously demanding: ‘We should all fly less.’
First-class BA flights to New York cost up to £18,000 and generate nearly two tons of carbon dioxide – the main driver of climate change – for each passenger in the elite cabin.
Onlookers claim the multi-millionaire activist also drank Laurent-Perrier champagne and dined on beef carpaccio – even though cattle farming is also a major contributor to greenhouse gasses.
Dame Emma has also previously called on people to eat less meat in the name of ‘preserving the planet’.
While at the march today, Dame Emma was asked about global pop-star Taylor Swift’s jet setting which has garnered criticism for its carbon foot print.
The actress replied: ‘That’s a matter for her conscience.’
Dame Emma was previously criticised after flying 5,400 miles from her 60th birthday party in Los Angeles to join protests over the 2019 Easter weekend.
At the time, the group defended its celebrity backer. It insisted that the tons of carbon her flight produced for her to be at their protest was an ‘unfortunate cost in our bigger battle to save the planet’.
