30-5-20 ‘#Change is Now - #Decide Together’ demonstration, Gold Hill

Though media coverage was predictably thin, Saturday 30th May marked a nationwide silent protest action by Extinction Rebellion supporters in London, Bristol, Birmingham and many other places. Around a dozen of us showed up for ours on Gold Hill. As we were briefed beforehand, we were meticulously careful on the social distancing front, and police presence – such as it was – was friendly.

The theme we were asked to present on our placards was binary choices to be made as we stumble out of Covid-19 restrictions over the coming months or possibly years. You’ll get the idea from some of the photos below (thanks to Ed Bersey and Neil Baird) and more can be seen on the XR Shaftesbury Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1105509316286885/) along with a good number of pictures from other actions across the country (posted on by Richard Ecclestone).

Obviously, with there being so few people about in town, the main function of this event was to create images to proliferate on social media, so we spent most of the time positioning ourselves for the photos. (Hopefully they will be shared far and wide.) But it was good to feel we were out on a Planet Shaftesbury / XR action once more. Despite the seriousness of the messages, I suspect there were a few smiles behind the facemasks.