FERMANAGH campaigners were prominent at an Extinction Rebellion protest outside Executive department offices in Belfast last week, with one local woman giving the keynote speech.
Last Thursday the environmental action group held a demonstration outside both the Department of Infrastructure (DfI) and the Department for the Economy (DfE) calling for, among other things, the 1960s petroleum policy to be repealed an immediate ban on fracking imposed, much like the bans already in place in the South and elsewhere in the UK.
“Both the DfI and the DfE closed their shutters to us, refusing to even listen to our demands,” said an Extinction Rebellion NI spokesman. “After the recent IPCC report declaring a ‘code red’ for humanity, the Executive is still pressing ahead with fossil fuel infrastructure, the biggest producer of CO2 emissions.”
Local woman Dianne Little, from LAMP Fermanagh, addressed the protest. In her lengthy speech, Ms Little told those gathered in Belfast how the community here in Fermanagh was “still fighting to defend our health, our clean air.”
“We the people stand and speak to defend our community and others across the world from the greed of oil and gas industry who are working too closely with governments to lock us into decades of fossil fuel use, causing devastating climate and health impacts.”
Referring to the IPCC report, Ms Little said “the time for arguments is over.”
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