Question Time audience member speaks for angry Londoners as he blasts Extinction Rebellion

‘Soap-dodgers dancing in the streets, it’s not a protest, it’s a FIELD DAY!’: Question Time audience member speaks for angry Londoners as he blasts Extinction Rebellion guest for shutting down the capital

  • Guest called for activists to ‘make it a proper issue and not make it look stupid’
  • He said: ‘I think it’s the wrong type of people who are putting out this message’
  • He added: ‘When people are dancing in streets it’s not a protest, it’s a field day’
  • Eco-warriors have faced criticism for closing down Westminster from Monday

A BBC Question Time audience member launched a savage attack on Extinction Rebellion last night, claiming its blockade in central London was a ‘field day’ and ‘not a protest’.

The man hit out at ‘soap-dodgers’ dancing in the streets of the capital and called for the activists to ‘make it a proper issue and not make it look stupid’.

The eco-warriors have faced criticism from Londoners for closing down Westminster from Monday, in a move that has seen more than 1,000 arrested.

The man (pictured) hit out at ‘soap-dodgers’ dancing in the streets of the capital and called for the activists to ‘make it a proper issue and not make it look stupid’

Yesterday protesters shut down a Burger King in Leicester Square after a security shambles at City Airport dominated day four of the climate demonstrations.

Speaking on the show in Beckenham, Great London, last night, the audience member said: ‘Obviously we all know that the environment is a huge issue. I myself follow a plant based diet because of it, but it’s interesting that you [XR spokesman Rupert Read] talk about the methods.

‘For me, a load of people dancing in a street probably off their head and dreadlocks, soap-dodgers…’

XR spokesman Rupert Read shook his head while Question Time host Fiona Bruce cut the audience member off saying: ‘You may be maligning a whole group of people there, I would just like to say.’

Question Time host Fiona Bruce cut the audience member off saying: 'You may be maligning a whole group of people there, I would just like to say'

XR spokesman Rupert Read shook his head

XR spokesman Rupert Read (right) shook his head while Question Time host Fiona Bruce (left) cut the audience member off saying: ‘You may be maligning a whole group of people there, I would just like to say’

But the man continued: ‘I think it’s the wrong type of people who are putting out this message.

‘There is a real argument for the environment and its completely painting the wrong picture and as Theo [Paphitis, a businessman] said it’s stopping people going to work, it’s causing normal people problems.

‘And it shouldn’t be, it should be a problem that we all adopt and we all change our regular lifestyles for and I think when you know you see these people dancing in the street it’s not a protest, it’s just a field day.’

But the man continued: 'I think it's the wrong type of people who are putting out this message'

But the man continued: ‘I think it’s the wrong type of people who are putting out this message’

He added: ‘And i think it’s really important we make this a proper issue and not make it look stupid.’

Yesterday’s action saw XR protesters shut down the Burger King store and create security problems at City Airport.

Eco-activists forced the fast-food chain to shut its doors by staging a sit-in in Leicester Square while chanting a protest song with a call to ‘shut this system down’.

One man with a megaphone railed against deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, while another held up a sign saying: ‘RIP 10 million pigs’.

Other protesters gathered on Lambeth Bridge with a banner demanding ‘Tell The Truth’, watched by police officers on motorcycles.

Protesters block the entrance to London City Airport from the Docklands Light Railway station during Thursday's protests

Protesters block the entrance to London City Airport from the Docklands Light Railway station during Thursday’s protests

A Scotland Yard spokesman said late last night 1,112 people had been arrested over the four days of protests, which are set to continue today and are scheduled to last two weeks.

Meanwhile there were questions asked at City Airport after a protester climbed on top of a British Airways plane and glued himself down while another plane was forced to turn around on the tarmac.

James Brown, a partially-sighted Irish cyclist who was banned from athletics in 2016 for a doping violation, was able to circumvent security at London City Airport by buying a boarding pass. 

That allowed him to get through the relevant security checks that are prevalent at any UK airport and board a flight he had no intention of taking.

Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick slammed Brown saying it was a ‘stupid and dangerous thing to do’ adding there will now be a full security review into the incident. 

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