- Title: UK's Johnson calls climate protesters "hemp-smelling crusties"
- Date: 8th October 2019
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 8, 2019) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS WRITING BANNER FOR BRITISH PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON READING (English): 'DEAR BORIS, WE'D BE EGG-STATIC TO MEET YOU, NO EGGS HERE!' DETAIL OF BANNER READING (English): 'CRUSTIES'
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2019 13:12
- Keywords: Boris Johnson Extinction Rebellion climate activists protesters London blocking roads climate action climate change
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Environment,Climate Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002B08M6VB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson labelled climate-change protesters as "hemp-smelling, uncooperative crusties" during a speech in London on Monday (October 7).
Speaking at an event on Monday evening, Johnson said his security team didn't want him to attend as they feared he might be hit by eggs from protesters. He called the demonstrators ''crusties", a British slang term for eco-protesters.
"The best thing possible for the education of the denizens of those heathen, hemp-smelling bivalve whacks that now litter Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park and rest of London, the best thing for them would be to stop blocking the traffic," he told the audience.
On Tuesday, some protesters hit back at the prime minister with banners rejecting his comments.
The Extinction Rebellion group wants Britain to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025 rather than the government's 2050 target.
The protests are the latest stage in a global campaign for tougher and swifter steps against climate change coordinated by the group, which rose to prominence in April when it snarled traffic in central London for 11 days.
(Production: Roberto Esparza, Aiden Nulty) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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