Retired lecturer and grandfather-of-four, 83, is arrested for NINTH time in a year in Extinction Rebellion protests as he says he is acting ‘for my grandchildren and all their generation’
- Retired probation officer Phil Kingston is taking part in Extinction Rebellion protest at London City Airport
- Veteran environmental campaigner said he was doing it for four grandchildren and ‘all of their generation’
- Mr Kingston was arrested on Monday for spraying ‘Life not death for my grandchildren’ on the Treasury
- It came after he was also detained last Thursday for spraying fake blood on same building in Westminster
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Police arrested a veteran 83-year-old environmental campaigner this morning for the third time in just a week.
Retired probation officer Phil Kingston, from Bristol, said before his arrest that he was joining the Extinction Rebellion climate change protest at London City Airport for his four grandchildren and ‘all of their generation’.
Mr Kingston said it was the ninth time he had been arrested with XR within the past year, and joked with LBC radio that he had been ‘just going to get a plane’ before he was dragged outside. He added: ‘I’m very happy to be here.’
It comes after Mr Kingston was arrested on Monday for spraying the words ‘Life not death for my grandchildren’ on the walls of the Treasury in Westminster, and last Thursday for spraying fake blood on the same building.
Phil Kingston has been arrested at London City Airport today as part of the Extinction Rebellion climate change protest
Mr Kingston said today he is taking part in the protest at City Airport for his four grandchildren and ‘all of their generation’
Police officers speak to 83-year-old protester Mr Kingston during the demonstration at London City Airport this morning
Mr Kingston is dragged away from London City Airport this morning as the demonstrations continue
Police remove Mr Kingston from the scene as the Extinction Rebellion protests continue at City Airport this morning
Asked why he was at the protest today, Mr Kingston said: ‘My grandchildren and all of their generation. I’m mostly here for the poorest peoples, who have done the least to cause climate breakdown and are suffering the most.
‘(They) are predicted to suffer dreadfully in the coming years, as eventually we all will, unless we do the most enormous turnaround which I don’t even know if that’s possible now.
‘But if it isn’t possible, then I am here to help us tell the truth and prepare for what we need to prepare together. Lastly, I’m a Christian. This lovely creation is God’s creation, and for us to be destroying it, it’s is an affront.
Mr Kingston, a retired Bristol University social work lecturer who is now a regular at major XR protests, added: ‘The God of love has given us all this, and we are just misusing it hopelessly. So that’s why I’m here.’
On Monday, Mr Kingston, wearing a suit and tie, was seen using red spray paint on the walls of the Treasury. Police said he was being arrested for ‘defacing property’, and another officer was heard saying ‘put him in the van’.
Police also arrested campaigner Mr Kingston on Monday for a spray paint protest at the Treasury building in Westminster
Police officers help Mr Kingston into a van on Monday after arresting him during the previous Extinction Rebellion protest
Mr Kingston (left) was also involved in a protest involving red paint outside the Treasury building in Westminster last Thursday
Police arrest Mr Kingston outside the Treasury building in Westminster last Thursday after protesters sprayed fake blood on it
In April this year, Mr Kingston celebrated his birthday by climbing on top of a train at Canary Wharf and eating a sandwich