Police make 14 arrests after thousands of activists descend on central London

Crime reporter(wp/es):

Police have made 14 arrests after around 2,000 protestors descended on central London as part of a huge demonstration by climate group Extinction Rebellion. 

One activist superglued herself to the gates of Buckingham Palaceas the climate change group “held a memorial on Parliament Square to mark the loss of life our planet is experiencing”.  

Scotland Yard said 14 people have been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage – including two people who are suspected of digging up grass in Parliament Square. 

Another was arrested on suspicion of causing damage to the Women at War memorial, a police spokesman said. 

Extinction Rebellion said one activist was arrested for spray-painting the extinction symbol on the grounds in front of the palace. 

The activists blocked all of the roads around Parliament Square as they planned to bury a coffin which they said represented the future of life on the planet.

Images showed the coffin being marched to Downing Street and the gates of Buckingham Palace during Saturday's rally, which reportedly attracted around 2,000 activists. 

Photos showed clashes between police and protesters, who said they aimed to highlight the “criminal inaction of the British Government in the face of the imminent ecological and climate emergency.” 

Reading out a letter addressed to the Queen, activist Dr Gail Bradbook said: “We are facing the biggest threat to our entire realm and way of life in 1,000 years of our history.

“We know our rights and are in rebellion to save ourselves, our loved ones and our entire nation. We have asked our government to meet with us and address our demands."

The demonstration, named Rebellion Day 2, comes after days of protests on the capital’s roads during the last week which caused rush hour traffic to repeatedly grind to a halt.

Extinction Rebellion said it has no choice but to hold the demonstrations to draw attention to government inaction on pollution levels and climate change.

Last Saturday, Rebellion Day 1 was said to be a celebration of the life on earth protesters want to save as thousands blocked five bridges in central London.

Emily, 36 from London, said of the second protest: “I’m standing amongst hundreds of people prepared to rise up in rebellion to save what we can of our future.

“We are going to take every action that we can, we are going to disrupt again and again and again so that space might be cleared where we can create a better future.”

Invited guests, speakers and performers included human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, rapper Dizraeli, folk singer Sam Lee and author of Only Planet Ed Gillespie.

In a statement, Extinction Rebellion said: “We Rebel because we love this world. It breaks our hearts to see it ravaged, to watch so many people and animals all over this world already dying, to know that this will soon happen to our children without urgent changes.

“There is no way forward without giving credence to our grief. We are serious, this is an emergency, this is our home we are watching collapse.”

UK Black Friday sales down year-on-year, data shows

Business correspondent(wp/Reuters):

Black Friday spending in Britain fell year-on-year, credit card data showed on Friday, dealing a blow to retailers who had hoped for strong sales at the start of the Christmas shopping season.

Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of all UK debit and credit card transactions, had as of 1300 GMT seen a 12 percent drop in the amount spent, though the volume of transactions was 15 percent higher than seen at the same point of last year’s Black Friday.

“Our data shows that people have been making a higher number of less expensive purchases than at this time last year,” said Konrad Kelling, managing director of Barclaycard Payment Solutions.

Black Friday spending in Britain fell year-on-year, credit card data showed on Friday, dealing a blow to retailers who had hoped for strong sales at the start of the Christmas shopping season.

Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of all UK debit and credit card transactions, had as of 1300 GMT seen a 12 percent drop in the amount spent, though the volume of transactions was 15 percent higher than seen at the same point of last year’s Black Friday.

“Our data shows that people have been making a higher number of less expensive purchases than at this time last year,” said Konrad Kelling, managing director of Barclaycard Payment Solutions.

“This suggests that, while Black Friday is clearly encouraging shoppers to buy, consumers are more likely to be purchasing smaller ‘treat’ products, rather than splashing out on high-end items.”

Britain’s retailers were hoping Black Friday discounts would get shoppers spending again after a torrid year for much of the sector that has seen a string of store groups go out of business or announce shop closures.

Retailers are battling subdued consumer spending, rising labour costs, higher business property taxes, growing online competition and uncertainty over Brexit.

Some retailers said the event had got off to a busy start. Dixons Carphone’s (DC.L) Currys PC World electricals business said it had seen three orders per second. Best-selling items included the Nintendo Switch Neon Red games console.

John Lewis [JLPLC.UL], Britain’s biggest department store group, said the number one searched-for products so far on Friday were Apple Airpods and the Applewatch series 3, which had savings of 15 pounds and 60 pounds respectively.

Separately Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre warned that Black Friday sales could be targeted for cyber-crime. The UK’s cyber-security defence agency, part of the GCHQ intelligence service, said shoppers should be wary of risks and take precautions.

Boris Johnson, sniping at May, calls for 'no deal' Brexit minister

Political reporter(wp/Reuters):
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson on Saturday called for the government to appoint a minister to prepare for a “no-deal” British exit from the European Union in order to increase London’s leverage in talks with Brussels.

He also called for Prime Minister Theresa May to withhold much of Britain’s exit payment, to renegotiate its withdrawal deal and to dump the Northern Ireland backstop, while avoiding triggering a no-deal Brexit.

The withdrawal treaty’s ‘backstop’ provision could ultimately align Northern Ireland more closely with the EU than the rest of the United Kingdom if no other way can be found to avoid a hard border with EU member the Republic of Ireland.

The proposals received a rapturous reception from the audience at the annual conference of Northern Ireland’s pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist Party, but Johnson did not explain how he would secure EU acquiescence to the plan.

EU leaders have repeatedly said they are not willing to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement, and observers have suggested Britain would have to make major concessions elsewhere for it to be changed.

May is due formally to agree the withdrawal deal with the EU’s remaining 27 members on Sunday.

“Unless we junk this backstop, we will find that Brussels has got us exactly where they want us – a satellite state,” Johnson told the crowd. Britain, he said, risked “economic and political humiliation.”

“We need a secretary of state for no-deal or WTO (World Trade Organisation) terms, with real powers across Whitehall (Britain’s civil service) to make things happen,” Johnson told the conference, winning a standing ovation.

“I do not believe that we will exit without a deal – that is totally unnecessary – but it is only responsible of government to make the proper preparations.”

Johnson, one of Prime Minister Theresa May’s fiercest critics since he quit her cabinet in July, has not formally called for her ouster.

But he is one of the leaders of a large group of Conservative members of parliament opposing May’s strategy and is regularly touted as a possible contender to replace her as Conservative Party leader should she fall over Brexit.

May does not currently have enough support in the British parliament to ratify the deal.

She has warned lawmakers they have a simple choice: back her deal or risk ushering in a no deal departure, a delay to Brexit or possibly no Brexit at all.

Speaking to the BBC, Johnson said he did not believe a no-deal Brexit was likely, but added: “I don’t think it will be nearly as bad as some people suggest.”

Johnson, who is known for his colourful language and at-time outlandish proposals, repeated a call for the construction of a bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland, a project that several experts have dismissed as impractical.

“We need urgently to recover our confidence and our self belief, and to stop treating Brexit as if it were a plague of frogs or a murrain on our cattle or some adverse weather event that had to be managed,” he said.