Merton activists attend climate crisis march fuelled by Trump’s election win

Merton Friends of the Earth joined hundreds of other protesters in a Climate Justice March on Saturday, which started at the British Museum and ended at 10 Downing Street.

More than 60 groups were involved including  Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion.

It comes in the wake of the US election which returned climate change denier Donald Trump to the White House and as world leaders gathered for the UN’s Cop29 climate summit in oil-rich Azerbaijan.

Auriel Glanville, a member of Merton Friends of the Earth, said: “I am here because Donald Trump is a climate change denier and says that human induced climate change is a hoax.

“We are in a climate emergency with floods, wild fires and droughts, Spain being the latest country with Valencia and Barcelona flooded. The people living in faraway islands are experiencing the worst of climate change and have said we are next.

“We have this wonderful oasis of life on planet Earth, let us try and keep it as good as possible for human beings and all life we share the planet with.”

Auriel was reunited at the weekend with Phil Thornhill, who started the climate change marches with Campaign Against Climate Change, and changed her life when he asked her if she would like to play the “Statue” when George W Bush was president.

She has been out leading the climate change marches in the UK and abroad ever since.

Pictured top: Auriel Glanville – alias “The Statue of Taking Liberties” – outside 10 Downing Street with other protesters holding banners (Picture: Trevor Lake)