Children and other Climate Rush 'suffragettes' at start of Westminster Pedal Power Bike Rush against coal-fired power stations
Several hundred climate change activists took part in the Pedal Power Bike Rush, a mass bicycle ride organised by the 'Climate Rush' around London demanding the UK government take effective action to counter climate change and global warning. 'Climate Rush' is a direct action group led and inspired by women, modelled on the Suffragette Movement of a hundred years ago. The 'Bike Rush' gathered outside Chatham House in St James Square where the conference, 'Coal: An answer to our energy security’ was taking place. Almost 300 cyclists and a tandem-hauled sound system moved off at for a tour of the main streets of the West End. Some of the protesters rode in white dresses and hats evoking the Suffragette era, and one came in black as a widow, mourning the end of coal. Many more wore sashes, copying from the purple sashes worn by the Suffragettes, but in 'Climate Code Red'. Some had this extreme security message, while others bore the suffragette motto, 'Deeds Not Words' or specific slogans including 'No Airport Expansion', 'Action on Coal Now!, 'Trains Not Planes' and 'Pedal Power.' Riders handed out copies of 'Here Comes the Sun', a newspaper with information about climate change and what people can do as well as celebrity exclusives from Quentin Tarantino, Paris Hilton, Colin Firth, Vivienne Westwood, Daisy Lowe, Stephen Hawking, Giles Deacon, Gavin Turk, Katherine Hamnett and Queens of Noize, quotations from Gandhi, Einstein and more. The Rush halted outside several of these offices of companies they accuse of criminal irresponsibility towards the environment, including BP in St James Square, the British Airports Authority at Victoria, and BERR (the government’s clumsily-named Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform) and ended with a picnic on Westminster Bridge, riders refusing to move when told to do so by police.
Size: 5040px × 3354px
Location: London, England, UK
Photo credit: © Peter Marshall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: bicycle, bike, change, chatham, children, climate, coal, coal-fired, critical, cycle, deeds, demonstration, environment, environmental, green, helmets, house, issues, london, mass, pedal, power, protest, rush, sash, sashes, stations, suffragettes, west, westminster, women, women-led, words
