Extinction Rebellion to stage protest in central Brussels on Saturday

Activists from Extinction Rebellion will occupy part of Rue de la Loi in Brussels this Saturday. The climate movement will stage its protest halfway through the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow which it says is a "disastrous political approach to the ecological crisis”.

“Our leaders are doing nothing, they are just making the situation worse," a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion said.

After years of demonstrations, petitions and school strikes linked to climate protests, it is now time for anger, Extinction Rebellion said in its press release. That is why the climate movement is planning a national action of non-violent civil disobedience in Brussels with #Time4Rage. "The floods in Wallonia and the latest IPCC report make it clear that the ecological crisis is inevitable," the spokesperson said.

Extinction Rebellion also denounced some of the "disastrous" policy choices of the Belgian government which have "exacerbated the ecological crisis." In doing so, the climate movement is targeting, among other things, the new gas-fired power stations of federal energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten. "Engie, the provider, will receive a subsidy for two mega-gas power plants, for 15 years,” the spokesperson added. “In this way, more than €1 billion of taxpayers' money will flow into extra CO² emissions."

The arrival of the e-commerce giant Alibaba to Liège airport and the new Ineos factory in the port of Antwerp are also bad choices, according to the climate movement.

During the action on Saturday 6 November, Extinction Rebellion will once again organise popular assemblies. "We demand the creation of a sovereign Citizens' Parliament," the spokesperson said, "in which citizens can formulate the necessary measures for a socially just ecological transition."