Protesters from Save the Trees, an environmental group campaigning against deforestation, have replaced campaigners from Extinction Rebellion at Dixon Clark Court last week.
XR protestors’ three-week long ‘sleep out’, which was part of a year-long opposition to the council’s decision to cut down trees to make way for a housing development, ended after the council agreed to hold a Citizens’ Assembly on the climate emergency.
The council also promised to engage with a ‘Climate Emergency Islington’ group of local campaigners, modelled on a similar scheme in Camden, and told XR it was determined to “reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030,” as a result of XR’s campaign.
However, the council’s commitments did not satisfy all. XR Activist Helena Farstad addressed protesters a day before the group departed: “the journey really brought out the lack of trust between the community and the council.”
An unnamed spectator criticised “this naive set of negotiations”, arguing that it was “ridiculous” to believe that the council would hold a “sincere and honest conversation.”
In only a matter of hours after XR left the site, Save the Trees revived the protest, where they continue to settle under the trees.
