The group, which is an arm of the environmental organization Extinction Rebellion, says the protest is to ‘symbolize the royal family’s crimes against animals and our planet’.

Animal Rebellion campaigners held a protest at Buckingham Palace and put fake blood in a fountain outside the royal household to excoriate the Queen for having “blood on her hands”.

The group is linked to Extinction Rebellion (XR), which has been blocking streets and causing disruption in the central city as part of a massive fortnight-long protest demanding urgent action from the government on the climate and ecological emergency.

Members of Animal Rebellion stained the fountain at the Queen Victoria Memorial and held up placards reading ‘royal bloodbath’ to protest against the use of crown land for hunting and animal agriculture.

According to the group, the crown estate is the biggest landowner in the UK and the royal family should lead by example in the fight against the climate crisis.

The royal family is also under fire after a recent report revealed that the Queen’s lawyers secretly lobbied Scottish ministers to have crown land exempted from an initiative to cut carbon emissions.

The Queen is the only person in the country to be exempt from laws that are designed to protect the planet and transition towards renewable energy.

‘Royal family should be leading the way’

Dora Hargitai is the co-founder of Animal Rebellion. She said: “[The protest was] to symbolise the blood on the Queen’s hands and the royal family’s crimes against animals and our planet.”

Harley McDonald-Eckersall, a spokesperson for Animal Rebellion added: “The crown estate is the biggest landowner in the UK and they choose to use this land for animal agriculture and hunting, which not only decimates our environment but causes the deaths of millions of lives every year.

 “It’s time for a new system based on justice and compassion and the royal family should be leading the way.”

On Instagram, the group added: “Crown land should be used to grow healthy, nutritious food for all and to provide homes for the animals we share this country with.

“We are demanding that the Queen end the use of crown land for industries which are contributing to the climate and ecological emergency and the death of animals including hunting, animal agriculture and racing.”

Impossible Rebellion

According to Extinction Rebellion, the ‘Impossible Rebellion’ has been extremely popular this year following the United Nations’ devasting report on climate change.

At least 10,000 people have congregated near the rallies since they began protesting on 23 August.

During the week, activists protested outside the Brazilian embassy against the environmental destruction of the Amazon Rainforest and Brazil’s treatment of its indigenous people.

On the third day of the climate action group’s campaign of disobedience, they mobilized a women-led protest on Oxford Street and surrounding roads near Oxford Circus.

Meanwhile, activists from Money Rebellion, an offshoot of XR, gathered at the Department for International Trade to hold a mock awards ceremony where a “Charred Earth” award was given to the department.

Despite police arrests and warnings to stop the campaigns, the groups said they were determined to continue their “high impact actions” for the next week.

“The people have spoken, the earth won’t be broken,” the group wrote on Instagram.

“We are people scared for our future and the ways that climate and ecological breakdown is already impacting on people, cities, communities, and ecosystems around the world.

“We know that raising our voices in the face of government failure and injustice is our duty, and it is our right to rebel until they act now.”

Animal Rebellion added that it would continue its environmental campaign by “marching to the gates of some of the most influential people in the world to demand that they make the right choice and use their power to do what is right for our planet and all those who live on it.”

• Read: Over 90% of Londoners worried about ‘code red’ climate crisis, says poll

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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