ACTIVISTS who want to see politicians prioritise the health of people and the planet held protests outside the offices of Cornish MPs.

Adhering to social distancing and wearing face masks, members of Extinction Rebellion (XR) delivered letters asking the Government for a Citizens Assembly to decide how the country should move forward during the Covid-19 recovery.

One protestor, Nathanael Squire, said: ’The response to the Coronavirus crisis has shown us how quickly things can change when the political will is there. Now we need the same urgent response to climate change and the ecological crisis that is already killing more people every year than Covid-19.’

The XR movement belives that there is an opportunity at present not to simply go back to the prior way of doing things and to make meaningful changes which will have a long-term positive impact for the environment and for people’s health.

Protestor Sophie Miller said: ’ The Government is driving a return to “normal” but “normal” is what caused this crisis in the first place. We need to prioritise the health of people and the planet not profit. We shouldn’t be paying huge bailouts to fossil fuel companies or other destructive industries but building a cleaner and greener economy.’

Protestors were in Liskeard outside the offices of MP for SE Cornwall Sheryll Murray in Liskeard, as well as in Newquay, Falmouth, Truro and in Camborne, the seat of Environment Secretary George Eustice.

In Bodmin, the protest was held at Mount Folly so as to avoid the enclosed space outside the office of MP Scott Mann.

Protestors were also in Parliament Square in London and at locations all over the UK.

Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with what is sees as criminal inactivity by Government.

Extinction Rebellion’s key demands are: Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change; Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025; Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.