Politicians meet, complain in the streets: loud, colorful and non-violent demonstrations by major industrialized countries on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Cornwall for more climate and species protection measures took place on Saturday. Their representatives only saw it on television, as protesters were kept at a distance: the biggest rally took place in Falmouth, the port city of Carbys Bay, about an hour’s drive from the G7 summit town.
After several experiences of partially violent protests against previous G meetings, it is again largely isolated and difficult to secure. That’s not a problem in Corbys Bay: the idyllic town of 3500 residents by the Irish Sea off the coast of Cornwall is characterized by a lack of access roads – there are only half a dozen, including dirt roads.
In the port city of Falmouth, 44 km away, it is hardly any different, but at the summit is the press center for media reporting. About 2000 Extinction rebel activists took part in a protest march here on Saturday.
Protesters carried banners with inscriptions such as “Deeds, no words” as an appeal to US President Joe Biden, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and their G7 allies. “I have a grandson who is one year old and I would like some more life for him when he grows up,” said protester David Oliver, 62. Therefore, he advocates for measures against climate change and environmental pollution.
The G7 heads of state and government were unwilling to take “radical” measures against the climate disaster, criticizing the pensioner who had traveled from the north-west of England to demonstrate. Joyce, 42, who lives in Falmouth, had come with her nine-year-old son and six-year-old daughter to protest.
The allegation that the G7 countries are doing little for the climate and environment was also expressed on Saturday in protest against development organization Oxfam. Demonstrators with heads of G7 and giant papier-mâché heads of government lay in deck chairs on Falmouth Beach.
Climate and species conservation is one of the central themes of the G7 summit, which runs until Sunday. The heads of state and government of Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Japan, Canada and the United States to discuss, among other things, a project to put at least 30 percent of Earth’s land and marine areas under protection by 2030 want.
The G7’s decisions are important for the UN Biodiversity Summit in Kunming, China in October and the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland in November.
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