Breaking: Extinction Rebellion activists smash JP Morgan windows : CityAM

Green activists have vandalised the JP Morgan headquarters in Embankment using chisels and hammers to smash two windows.

At around 7am this morning eight women representing Extinction Rebellion arrived at the building wearing all black and used hammers adorned with the words ‘live,’ ‘laugh’ and ‘love’ to break the glass. Activists added the words ‘in case of climate emergency, break glass’ to the building front before sitting on the road in a circle to await police.

Sally Davidson, who took part in the action, said: “I do not take this action lightly.” She defended the protest saying: “it comes down to this: climate change and the extraction of fossil fuels are causing untold damage to people’s lives and livelihoods, and damage to a pane of glass is insignificant in comparison.”

The action is part of Extinction Rebellion’s “Impossible Rebellion,” a two week long series of protests in the build up to the UN’s COP26 climate summit.

The group has targeted the City of London to draw attention to the role that financial services play in fuelling the climate crisis.

Last week, green rabble rousers doused the front of Standard Chartered Bank and London’s Guildhall in red paint – a symbolic move which laid the blame for environmental destruction at the door of big banks.

Rosemary Webster, 63 from Dorchester, said of today’s action: “banks must stop the harm they are causing right now to avoid climate collapse, which will disproportionately affect women globally as society breaks down.”

News of the incident at JP Morgan comes after the metropolitan police announced that more than 450 protestors have been arrested since the civil disobedience campaign began last week.

Read more: What does Extinction Rebellion actually want?