London (AFP)
Activists from the environmentalist movement Extinction Rebellion blocked printing presses of UK magnate Rupert Murdoch's News Corp group, a punchy action that disrupted newspaper distribution on Saturday morning and was widely condemned.
According to Extinction Rebellion (XR), several dozen of its activists blocked access to the printing works in Broxbourne, north London, and Knowsley, near Liverpool, from Friday to Saturday, from where News Corp titles such as the Sun, the Times, the Telegraph, but also the Daily Mail, which does not belong to the group.
Police said 42 people were arrested at the first site, and 21 at the second.
The protesters intended to demand to "release the truth", criticizing the titles concerned for not adequately accounting for the "climate and ecological emergency" and criticizing them for "manipulating the truth" for the benefit of their own agenda, according to one Extinction Rebellion press release.
"This attack on our free press, our society and our democracy is totally unacceptable," Interior Minister Priti Patel reacted on Twitter.
One of the Labor opposition leaders, Emily Thornberry, disowned the action, which she said was "disturbing", on Times Radio.
“I don't really know what they are looking to do but I do know that for a lot of older listeners it is really part of their daily life to have their newspapers delivered in the morning,” she said.
Herefordshire County Police said delivery trucks were unable to leave the Broxbourne site by 6:00 a.m. local time (5:00 GMT).
According to the police, around 100 protesters attached themselves to structures and to each other.
On Twitter, XR posted photos of activists tied to each other at the base of a bamboo structure.
- "No more trucks" -
Confirming that two of the group's printing plants were disrupted by XR, Newsprinters issued a "sincere apology" to readers of the Sun, Times, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, as well as the Financial Times who could not find their newspapers usual Saturday morning due to delivery delays, according to a spokesperson.
"Our teams are working to get newspapers delivered to retailers as soon as possible this morning," she added, explaining that newspaper printing had moved to other locations.
The group denounced an "attack on the entire free press" which affects many workers, from printers to retailers.
"Dear newsagents, we are sorry for the disruption caused this morning," Extinction Rebellion tweeted, "dear Mr. Murdoch, we are absolutely not sorry for continuing to disrupt your agenda this morning."
"We will only tackle the climate and ecological emergency by breaking the traditional deadlock of opposition policies and coming together, despite our differences," said Alanna Byrne of Extinction Rebellion in a statement.
"If we are to break this deadlock, mainstream media must stop profiting from the culture of clickbait, which swims in disinformation, which makes us hate our neighbors, suspect foreigners and vulnerable groups, and set the nation in motion." , she added.
On Twitter, The Sun responded by referring to a column by naturalist David Attenborough in the tabloid, who explains that humanity is at a "crossroads" and that it is not too late to save the planet from global warming climate.
A platform hailed by the companion of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"I care deeply about climate change and biodiversity, but preventing a free press from spreading this message is unacceptable. Not to mention all those small businesses that rely on newspaper sales," Carrie Symonds tweeted.
On Times Radio, Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker pointed out that XR's action had caused "incredible disruption" which resulted in "more trucks on more roads" to deliver the papers.
In the past week, XR has launched a series of actions in the United Kingdom which have given rise to more than 500 arrests and which must continue for several days.
© 2020 AFP