Two Green Party candidates in the City of York Council elections have been arrested in London.
Patrick Thelwell, 19, a candidate for Hull Road ward, was arrested as part of a group of protesters blocking Waterloo Bridge on Monday (15 April).
And Tom Franklin, 60, chair of York Green Party and council candidate in Acomb, was arrested during the Parliament Square protest on Wednesday (17 April).
They were both taking part in the Extinction Rebellion demonstration, part of a campaign of civil disobedience to “avert climate breakdown, halt biodiversity loss, and minimise the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse”.
Refusing to obey
He was held overnight at Leyton police station and released without charge on this morning (Thursday).
It was not Patrick’s first arrest. The second year politics and international relations student at the University of York was arrested at an Extinction Rebellion protest in London last November.
He said:
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I am privileged in the UK with a police and legal system that will treat me non-violently and fairly.
Others, in countries more urgently affected by the Climate Crisis, do not have the luxury of safe protest.
I, therefore, have a responsibility to act in every capacity I can to force our government to protect our people and our planet, even if that means getting arrested.
As we reported on Wednesday, a number of Extinction Rebellion York protesters have been arrested as part of the London action.