Damien Gayle Profile picture
Guardian environment correspondent, covering climate action across Europe and beyond. All opinions my own and no doubt totally wrong
Twitter author Profile picture 1 subscribed
Oct 14, 2022 4 tweets 3 min read
Activists with @JustStop_Oil have thrown tomato soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the national Gallery and glued themselves to the wall. “What is worth more, art or life? … are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?”

@JustStop_Oil’s activists explain their action
Oct 12, 2022 6 tweets 4 min read
I don’t think the police have joined @JustStop_Oil , but it looks like it. A dozen or so climate protesters currently blocking Horseguards, at the back gate to Downing St Image Police currently stopping anyone from crossing the road in Parliament Square - to make sure no one stops in the middle @JustStop_Oil
Apr 13, 2022 20 tweets 15 min read
Scientists with @ScientistsX have glued themselves to the windows of @beisgovuk in a climate change protest Scientists swooped on @beisgovuk at 11am and glued scientific papers - and their own hands - to the windows of the government department
Oct 13, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Protesters with #insulatebritain have blocked the roads near Purfleet Angry drivers dragged @InsulateGB protesters from the road after they blocked a busy junction by the m25 near the QE2 bridge
Sep 3, 2021 7 tweets 4 min read
Back in the City, where #ExtinctionRebellion are on the march again, attempting to raise awareness of rising sea levels, as their latest rebellion draws to a close. #ExtinctionRebellion’s protesters have paused in front of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market.
Sep 2, 2021 8 tweets 4 min read
Several hundred #ExtinctionRebellion protesters blocking the road outside the Bank of England. Today’s #ExtinctionRebellion protest is a mass breach of bail conditions, with rebels arrested over the past two weeks breaking their conditions by returning to the City of London.
Sep 1, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Several hundred #ExtinctionRebellion protesters outside Downing St protesting against “greenwashing” Image “Greenwash is when people claim to be taking action to tackle the climate emergency, but actually they are not.”

Lisa Hill, 57, of Newbury #ExtinctionRebellion, outside Downing Street. Image
Aug 31, 2021 18 tweets 10 min read
Day 9 of #ExtinctionRebellion: protesters are gathering between Tower Bridge and City Hall. XR promises a “new occupation”. Image Already this morning, @RebelsAnimal protesters have blockaded an @ArlaDairyUK distribution centre, while other activists have occupied the offices of @wwf_uk. Read my report from earlier. theguardian.com/environment/20…
Apr 3, 2021 34 tweets 23 min read
People have begun rallying at Speakers Corner in London ahead of the #KillTheBill #PoliceCrackdownBill protest this afternoon. “We’re from the Bargee Travellers Association, we live on boats that don’t have home moorings. We’re here in solidarity with other travellers and also for the right to protest.”

Olivia, right, 32, from Peterborough, at the #KillTheBill protest.
Jan 26, 2021 7 tweets 3 min read
BREAKING: Elizabeth Denham, @ICOnews information commissioner, has confirmed the @Conservatives broke the law by racially profiling 10m voters in 2019.

parliamentlive.tv/event/index/d4… Appearing at the @CommonsDCMS select committee, Denham insisted that the Conservative party had destroyed the data when her office recommended it, so that enforcement action was unnecessary.
Sep 19, 2020 16 tweets 8 min read
More than a thousand people here in Trafalgar Square at the latest #StandUpX #Lockdown demo Police are apparently picking off people from the #NoNewNormal demo, telling them they’re breaking the “rule-of-six”
Feb 11, 2020 5 tweets 3 min read
The @metpoliceuk are rolling out their first operational use of live facial recognition surveillance in Stratford, east London, today. They have deployed a single van with its cameras pointed at the entrance to Stratford shopping centre, capturing the faces of people walking out towards the station.
Oct 5, 2019 19 tweets 8 min read
Police use a battering ram to break into #ExtinctionRebellion warehouse in Kennington, south London An activist with #ExtinctionRebellion said the building had been a “tech hub” storing much of the audiovisual equipment for the protests, including sound systems and lighting, as well as lots of small gazebos.