No, not exactly. But supposedly they’ve thrown their last annoying-the-public tantrum…

WE QUIT!

Our #NewYearsResolution is to halt our tactics of public disruption. Instead, we call on everyone to help us disrupt our corrupt government.#ChooseYourFuture & join us: 21 April, Parliament. pic.twitter.com/FZlCeaHj4F

— Extinction Rebellion UK 🌍 (@XRebellionUK) January 1, 2023

…for the time being. It’s probably not a minute too soon, either.

The British arm of the Extinction Rebellion environmental group said on Sunday it would take a break from acts of public disruption in order to bring more people on board its campaign for urgent action to counter climate change.

The grassroots group’s protests have previously included closing key roads and bridges in central London, blockading oil refineries, smashing windows at Barclays bank headquarters and spraying fake blood over the finance ministry building.

In a statement entitled “We quit”, Extinction Rebellion UK said that in the four years it has been taking direct action, very little had changed, with emissions continuing to rise.

For all the caterwauling and ridiculous stunts that have endangered people’s lives and mangled already difficult city commutes…

Extinction Rebellion activists have formed human barriers to block traffic and close four London bridges, causing significant delays in the capital.

The climate protesters are in the roads outside Westminster, Blackfriars, Waterloo and Lambeth bridges, holding flags and banners declaring a “climate emergency”.

Demonstrators have also been pictured playing bongos and waving banners reading “end fossil fuels now” and “love in action” as queues of traffic form on the first day of the Easter bank holiday.

…they haven’t gained converts or their demanded results. The group isn’t only known for gumming up the streets – they’re actually destructive thugs, cloaked in a cape of climate righteousness.

In 2019 they ran into their own version of the Sod Off Swampy Petroleum Exchange thrashing Greenpeace experienced in 2005. ER activists made the egregious mistake of stopping 3 commuter trains at the height of London’s rush hour. Some glued themselves to trains, others climbed atop 2 of them, waved banners, and shouted slogans.

It wasn’t long before frustration boiled over in the masses of folks* trapped on the platform by their lunacy. They just wanted to get home.

*For the record, I am a firm advocate of and devotee to the Romance Language School of Obstructive Climate Activist Removal, per the French and Italians. If you’re gluing yourself to a surface, prepare to bring some of that with you as you’re yanked bodily up from it and dumped elsewhere.

“Sacré bleu, THAT HURTS!”

And I guarantee you don’t do it again.

In the current climate (winkwinknudgenudge), even as the British people are directed to “warming banks” because they can’t afford their energy bills – many are forced now to choose between food or furnace to keep the heat on – the chances of something even more dire than a thumping multiply at these events. Citizens are in no mood for agitators to make their lives any more miserable advocating to make that which is already too terribly dear even more rare and expensive. Something that used to be taken for granted and was accessible to everyone.

Another part of Extinction Rebellion’s calculus may be the British government’s official reaction to continued public disruptions and the clamor from the public looking for some sort of control over it. In the face of that outcry, the government recently enacted greater restrictions on “disruptive” protests. There are potentially stiff penalties these activists have not faced before.

…New legal restrictions on protests were introduced by the government after a wave of direct actions by climate protesters closed motorways and other infrastructure. The introduction of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act in 2022 gave police greater powers to restrict protests that cause disruption. The new public order bill is due to introduce offences of “locking on” and “interference with key national infrastructure”, which can both be punishable by imprisonment. There could be new “serious disruption prevention orders” targeting protesters “determined to repeatedly inflict disruption on the public”.

This could be a retrenchment to recalculate their public approach, well aware their methods have bought them few admirers and much opprobrium among the British man on the street.

In any case, the organization is still threatening action against government entities, like Parliament.

…”What’s needed now most is to disrupt the abuse of power and imbalance, to bring about a transition to a fair society that works together to end the fossil fuel era. Our politicians, addicted to greed and bloated on profits, won’t do it without pressure.”

…Extinction Rebellion said it planned to surround the Houses of Parliament from April 21 with 100,000 people.

“This year, we prioritise attendance over arrest and relationships over roadblocks, as we stand together and become impossible to ignore,” it said.

I’m not sure that 100K people surrounding Parliament – should they remotely approach that number – is going to “build bridges” the way Extinction Rebellion is insisting they want to. Sounds like a massive cluster in the center of the city, again, for an indulgent temper tantrum to shut down natural resources that people are desperate for.

More people than they bargained for could show up. I hope cooler heads prevail.

Sod off, Swampy.