By Ben Kerrigan-
Copies of The Sun Newspaper faced a significant delay on Saturday, after protesters from extinction rebellion targeted the printing location of several newspapers owned by Rupert Murdock.
Demonstrators have accused the papers of failing to sufficiently report on climate change in order to give it the attention it deserves.XR has accused the newspapers and their owners of “failure to report on the climate and ecological emergency” and “polluting national debate” on dozens of social issues.
XR used vehicles to block roads to the printing plants, while individual protesters chained themselves to structures. Vans were covered with banners with messages including “Free the truth” and “Refugees are welcome here”.
Hertfordshire Police said officers were called to Great Eastern Road near the Broxbourne plant at about 22:00 BST, where they found about 100 protesters who had “secured themselves to structures and one another”
Target
Over 100 protesters targeted Newsprinters presses at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, Knowsley in Merseyside, and near Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. There have so far been 63 arrests.
Extinction Rebellion has planned 10 days of action and is calling on the government to do more to act on climate change.
In an updated statement following the latest protest, a spokesman said: “We are in an emergency of unprecedented scale and the papers we have targeted are not reflecting the scale and urgency of what is happening to our planet.
“To any small businesses disrupted by the action this morning we say, ‘we’re sorry. We hope that our actions seem commensurate with the severity of the crisis we face and that this day of disruption successfully raises the alarm about the greater disruption that is coming’.”
Unacceptable
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the action by demonstrators across the country was “unacceptable”.
Johnson said on Twitter: “A free press is vital in holding the government and other powerful institutions to account on issues critical for the future of our country, including the fight against climate change.
“It is completely unacceptable to seek to limit the public’s access to news in this way.”
Shadow Secretary of State for Digital Culture, Media and Sport, Jo Stephens, said: “People have the right to read the newspapers they want.
“Stopping them from being distributed and printers from doing their jobs is wrong.”
Sun Tweet
The Sun tweeted saying copies of the paper would be delayed arriving at newsagents, adding the blockade was an “attack on all the free press”.
The presses print the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp titles including the Sun, the Times, the Sun on Sunday, the Sunday Times, and the Scottish Sun. They also print the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, and the London Evening Standard.
Bamboo Structures
Some protesters chained themselves to bamboo structures to block the road outside the building in Hertfordshire
Boris Johnson said on Twitter: “A free press is vital in holding the government and other powerful institutions to account on issues critical for the future of our country, including the fight against climate change.
“It is completely unacceptable to seek to limit the public’s access to news in this way.”
Shadow Secretary of State for Digital Culture, Media and Sport, Jo Stephens, said: “People have the right to read the newspapers they want.
“Stopping them from being distributed and printers from doing their jobs is wrong.”
Press Attack
Newsprinters also condemned the protests as an “attack on all of the free press”, which it said had affected workers going about their jobs and others such as newsagents who faced “financial penalty”.
“Thanks to other industry partners, printing was transferred to other sites,” it said.
Hertfordshire Police said officers were called to Great Eastern Road near the Broxbourne plant at about 22:00 BST, where they found about 100 protesters who had “secured themselves to structures and one another”
Officers said the site had been cleared of protesters by about 10:30 and 30 people had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass.
Police Scotland said in a statement the protest at the Eurocentral plant near Motherwell “was peaceful and there were no issues”.
XR has accused the newspapers and their owners of “failure to report on the climate and ecological emergency” and “polluting national debate” on dozens of social issues.