Bury St Edmunds campaigners stop traffic in protest

Environmental campaigners, Extinction Rebellion Bury St Edmunds, performed a road block protest in Parkway in the town this afternoon to to draw attention to the issues of climate change.

Around 17 protestors blocked one side and then the other side of the road for four minutes at a time, giving the roads a two minute break, before repeating the process for an hour- their version of a protest tactic called swarming.

Robert Possnett, local co-ordinator for the group said he was surprised by how well the protest was taken by the public.

He said: "It went really well, lots and lots of people gave us positive feedback, those crossing the roads and even by some of the drivers.

"I think this has definitely raised the debate about climate change in the town."

The non-violent campaign group did however come across some unhappy motorists, with Robert saying he was hit slightly by a couple of cars and some drivers having to be dealt with by police when they got out of their cars to express their anger.

Robert said: "We did it for four minutes at a time to not block the road too much but to still get our message across."

The group's next event will be on Thursday, April 11, when they will meet at Bury St Edmunds bus station at 8am, before walking to London in four days to meet up with other branches of Extinction Rebellion for their International Rebellion meeting.

If you wish to find out more information about Extinction Rebellion Bury St Edmunds, or wish to join them on their International Rebellion, go to the group's Facebook page.