Huddersfield Friends join XR

'Vigil open to all ‘who grieve lives and habitats lost’ through human impact.'

Photo courtesy of Clare Walters

Five Friends from Huddersfield Meeting joined a local Extinction Rebellion (XR) protest in the town last month. Clare Walters from the Meeting told the Friend that the three-day vigil from 24 June was open to all ‘who grieve lives and habitats lost’ through human impact.

The ‘visual protest’ involved casting messages via a large projector onto the side of the Hudderfsield plant of the agriculture company Syngenta, saying ‘Shut Syngenta now!’. The campaigners accuse the company of producing a ‘lethal weedkiller’ known as paraquat.

Syngenta says it operates ‘to the very highest standards’ and delivers regulated and licensed products that protect plants and help farmers grow crops.

Clare Walters said: ‘On Wednesday about twenty of us from Manchester, Sheffield, Rotherham, Calderdale and York gathered and marched down Leeds Road to the agriculture company Syngenta. The police facilitated and were very friendly. There were probably ten of them in all. Our banners said “Planet, not profit” and “Stop Syngenta killing the planet”. We blocked their gates for an hour then marched back to the square on the pavement. On Wednesday night some slogans were projected onto the Syngenta building and one protestor read out her poem which was live-streamed.’

Five Huddersfield Friends also held their second vigil this year since the easing of restrictions campaigning against the University of Huddersfield’s training courses involving Bahrain police. Quaker Robin Bowles said: ‘We have also held two in-person “Stop Arming Saudi” vigils.’ The Peace Pledge Union tweeted that the action was the perfect vigil for Armed Forces Day.

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