Campaigning grandmothers glued themselves to a table in a protest over climate change. The two women carried out the demonstration during a Dorset Council meeting.
Councillors booed and heckled the pair as they read out a statement criticising the authority for its lack of action over the environmental issue. One later claimed she had her statement ripped from her hand and the other alleged she had been "rough handled", reports Dorset Live.
Filming of the the meeting was stopped as the two, who call themselves "Grannies for the Future", entered the council chamber. It meant the protest was not broadcast with the public not told what was happening during the meeting on Thursday.
The two, who had the word glue written on their hands, acted as Weymouth councillor Louie O’Leary was speaking in praise of nuclear power. It came as a motion by Conservative leader Cllr Spencer Flower was about to be debated – a move which protestors feared could have led to a more lenient approach to fossil fuel and nuclear planning applications in the county.
This followed an opposition motion from Weymouth Green councillor Clare Sutton which called for national legislation to be strengthened to allow councils to reject fossil fuel applications. It was lost by 41 votes to 30 with Conservatives voting against.
Cllr Flower described the protestors after the meeting as “anarchists” and said that public debate would not be stopped by their actions, which he said was undemocratic. Cllr Flower had explained that with the reliance on Russian gas and oil the UK needed to now do what was necessary to become more self-sufficient.
The objectors, Giovanna Lewis and Annie Webster, say that exactly the opposite is needed – moving towards renewable power and more insulation, reducing the need for reliance on fossil fuels. “People are not taking this seriously enough, including Dorset Council, virtually all the world experts agree we have two or three years to take decisive action on climate, after that it will be too late,” said Giovanna.
“If they are serious about their climate and ecological emergency declaration to pass Clare Sutton’s (Green) motion would have been an easy thing to do.”
She said that by voting against the Green motion to strengthen planning laws on fossil fuel applications Dorset Council had lost “a small, but important chance, to lobby for change…if we are ever going to stop climate change we need to be able to stop planning applications for oil and gas, so we were very cross they didn’t do that. It was basically political so they could then vote for Spencer Flower’s motion to open up all the oil and coal fields because of Ukraine war.”
Ms Webster said that with the Conservatives voting against the Green motion they would be putting Dorset residents at risk from increased climate change: “They will be subjecting us to climate change and ramping up the trajectory by their resolution. What they want is business as usual,” she said.
The pair expect to now be interviewed by the police and possibly charged for their actions, but say if that is the price they have to pay they are prepared to do so. Ms Webster say that despite the claims they are Extinction Rebellion activists, they were acting alone as “grannies for the future.”
“It was something we decided to do ourselves. We are members of a number of organisations, but it was our own decision,” said Ms Lewis.
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