Environmental group Extinction Rebellion said on Sunday it will no longer carry out its infamous blockades of UK transport networks and will instead hold a large demonstration against government policy in April.
The activist network, formed in the UK in 2018, has regularly used civil disobedience to protest what it calls government inaction on climate change.
The activists gained notoriety for blocking train lines, airports and highways, causing chaos among commuters.
At the end of August they blocked London’s iconic Tower Bridge.
“As we ring in the new year, we make a controversial resolution to temporarily move away from public disruption as a primary tactic,” the group said in a statement.
“This year, we prioritize assistance over arrest and relationships over obstacles as we stick together and become impossible to ignore,” he added.
While acknowledging “the power of disruption to sound the alarm”, the activists say the group will now focus on disrupting “abuse of power and imbalance” by demanding politicians end the use of fossil fuels.
He is calling for 100,000 people to demonstrate outside the UK Parliament in London on April 21.
The group’s actions have angered large sections of the public, the Conservative government and much of the media.
Many activists have been arrested, while the government pursues plans to further ban their protest tactics.
At the same time, Extinction Rebellion has been overtaken by even more radical groups like Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain, whose activists sprayed soup over Van Gogh’s masterpiece “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery in October.
