Social media influencer urges young people to protest over environment

The social media influencer Jack Harries has said young people have a duty to protest against environmental destruction, as he took part in a day of protest in London that led to at least 14 arrests.

The 25-year-old, whose YouTube channel has 4 million subscribers, spoke to the Guardian as he helped hold a 68-metre banner dropped over the side of Westminster Bridge with the message: “We’re fucked.”

Harries, who has made a number of films about environmental destruction, said he was willing to use his social media influence to inspire his followers to take action over the climate.

He said: “As a young person growing up in London I feel scared for the state of my future [and] overwhelmed by the news about climate change, and I feel like our government is simply ignoring the problem.

“Its worth noting I don’t want to be here, but I feel that it’s my duty as a young person to make our voices heard and to force our governments to listen because, ultimately, it’s our future that’s at stake.”

“Climate change is a global issue and it’s up to all of us to stand up to be heard. I think we have gone past the point of turning off our lightbulbs or having shorter showers. This is an existential threat. Young people should be angry and should be demanding change from their leaders.

“For far too long leaders have avoided action on climate change because they have banked on the fact that young people don’t understand. We are here today to tell them that we do understand the issues, and we are scared.”

Harries spoke at the beginning of a new day of action by the Extinction Rebellion group, which is orchestrating a week of events planned to bring London to a standstill. They say they have 500 activists who have signed up to be arrested.

Seven were held outside Downing Street after spray-painting messages on the walls beside the gates, gluing themselves to fencing and lying on the ground holding food containers reading “food shortages are coming”.

Seven more were arrested outside the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) after a group ran up to Nobel House, Westminster, and spray-painted the walls with messages including the extinction symbol and “climate breakdown = extinction”.

Derek Langley, 63, from Cambridge, was among those who stood with paint-stained hands in the air to take responsibility for the action. He said: “If we carry on like we are now, my grandchildren have no future, absolutely no future. This is the last-ditch attempt, it’s too late to try anything else.”

A second protester, facing police who arrived minutes later, said: “You don’t have to waste your time with CCTV because we’re not running away and we’ve got paint on our hands.”

A spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion said the protesters used water-based spray chalk, which washes away easily.