Climate change / Christian ecologists charged with criminal damage

Five Christians, including a Catholic priest, were arrested in Whitehall for vandalising the offices of the Department of Energy and Climate Change as part of a protest against government policies on climate change, writes Rose Gamble.

On Monday, the first day of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21), the protesters, who belong to the group Christian Climate Action, delivered a letter to Energy Secretary Amber Rudd before whitewashing the walls of the government building and spray painting a slogan in black letters reading “Department for Extreme Climate Change”.

The protesters were arrested and taken to police stations at Charing Cross and Belgravia. They are expected to be charged with criminal damage. They include Fr Martin Newell, who works with homeless refugees at the London Catholic Worker Farm and Mary House, and Phil Kingston, a Catholic member of Grandparents for a Safe Earth.