- Activists have sprayed red and black dyes using fire extinguishers against the facade of the UK embassy.
- Futuro Vegetal demands that subsidies directed to livestock farming be diverted to socially and ecologically responsible plant-based alternatives.
Madrid, 15 June 2023.
Futuro Vegetal activists have dyed the UK embassy in Madrid building red and black using fire extinguishers. The protest denounces the repression of British activists who have been sentenced to more than two years in prison for non-violent protests in the UK.
On 16 May, Mike Lynch-White, co-founder of the group Scientist Rebellion, was sentenced to 23 months in prison for an action by Palestine Action in 2021 [1], in which they disrupted the production of UK-made military components that were to be supplied to the state of Israel [2].
Futuro Vegetal activists carried posters with Mike’s picture on them, which they stuck to the windows of the building.
“We are experiencing an escalation of repression. Governments are criminalising scientists and climate activists who are taking action in the face of the multi-systemic crisis they have brought us into” stated Elena Gonzalez, fiancée of the imprisoned activist. Elena has sprayed paint on the British Embassy dressed as a bride, symbolising that she has not been able to marry Mike due to the conviction, and has denounced that the conviction has interrupted her wedding with Mike.
In the Embassy building, the climate activist group Futuro Vegetal denounced “the judicial systems that are not protecting the population, but are imprisoning those who fight for a better world, from the housing movement to climate activists or the anti-militarist movement“. One of the spokespersons of the collective pointed out that “justice is at the service of the economic interests of a group of genocidaires“.
This is the first protest action of a weekend in which demonstrations and rallies have been called at British embassies in several European countries. The protests demand amnesty for Mike and the rest of the UK’s political prisoners.
Futuro Vegetal protests against the agri-food model that “is directly responsible for the current climate emergency”, according to the movement, echoing the reports of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They are therefore demanding that the government end subsidies to livestock farming and use the money for a transition to a socially and ecologically just plant-based food system. Currently, more than thirty Plant Future activists are facing criminal prosecution for their non-violent protests.
This press released was republished from the activist group Futuro Vegetal
For more information:
press@futurovegetal.org
[1] https://scientistrebellion.org/about-us/press/scientist-sentenced-to-27-months-for-peaceful-protest/
[2] https://palestineaction.org/prison-sentences/