Leeds festival invite Extinction Rebellion to broadcast environmental message on main stage

-> The complete guide to Leeds Festival 2019: Parking, tickets and how to get thereThe group has set up near yellow camp on the site on the big yellow boat - which Leeds residents might recognise from a week-long protest in the city centre which closed a major commuter route for a week.

Extinction Rebellion protesters say they will broadcast a one minute message each night of the three-day festival from the main stage.

Oscar Thorpe, 19, from Manchester and Lewis Hemingway, 22, from Headingley are both part of the crew on site.

Oscar said: "We are here for outreach, to reach people we wouldn't normally.

"This is not a climate change, it is a climate crisis.

"We have eleven years left until emissions are unavoidable.

"Every step on the road to where we need to be is necessary."

Lewis said the group had been invited by Leeds Festival to record a one minute message which would be broadcast on the main stage.

Lewis, who was part of the group protesting in Leeds, said the response online was very different to what they received in person.

He added: "The abuse we got online was very different to how people treated us.

"It was just music and yoga and we had hay bales.

"There was a real mixed response online.

"There was a lot of negativity towards us."

Leeds Festival 2019 will see the likes of Foo Fighters and The 1975 take to the stage for the three day event.

Some early rain threatened to dampen spirits but fortunately the forecast for the weekend is for bright sunshine - including a very hot Sunday when Post Malone will entertain a sell-out crowd.