Climate activists spray UK Treasury with fake blood

The head office of the British Treasury was sprayed with fake blood on Thursday, as Extinction Rebellion activists sought to draw attention to the climate crisis.

Using a decommissioned fire engine, activists sprayed the building in central London with 1,800 liters (475 gallons) of red liquid.

Footage from the incident showed the protesters briefly losing control of the fire hose, with fake blood spraying across the street. They also unfurled a banner on top of the truck reading: "Stop funding climate death."

"The Treasury has been frustrating efforts by other government departments to take action against climate change because it cares only about economic growth," one of the activists, named Ben, told Reuters news agency. "It doesn't see that eternal economic growth leads to climate death. The red symbolizes the people dying now in the global south and also the people who are going to start dying from climate change all around the world if we do nothing."

The British government has said it wants to achieve net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050, but Extinction Rebellion wants to reach that benchmark by 2025.

London's Metropolitan Police said four people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.

Authorities were left puzzling over what to do with the fire engine that the group left behind, as the keys had been removed by the driver.

Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists were arrested at protests in London earlier this year. 

The group plans to launch two weeks of climate protests in over 60 cities around the world starting on Monday.

rs/msh (AP, dpa, Reuters)

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