Live updates as Extinction Rebellion hold mock funeral in Leeds city centre

While environmental concerns relating to the proposed Leeds Bradford Airport expansion were the main driving force behind the protest earlier today, campaigners also wanted to mark their opposition to the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

The Bill has been the focus of a number of protests in Leeds, including this one last month:

The protestors also sang hymns on the steps of Leeds City Museum as part of the mock funeral for the city’s carbon budget and the right to protest.

Professor Paul Chatterton, who works at the university of Leeds, delivered the ‘eulogy’.

He said: “The expansion is another nail in the coffin of this carbon budget.

“We must do everything we can to ensure Leeds council gives no future to expansion at LBA. This is a turning moment for all of us.

“We are growing momentum in gradually changing this city.

“This is not just a funeral procession. Out of death comes hope.

“We need to take that hope for a better future for this city.”

After a stop outside Leeds Art Gallery, the protestors have marched on towards Millennium Square where they stopped on the steps of Leeds City Museum. A eulogy to the Leeds carbon budget is being delivered there.

Around 50 people taking part in the protest have marched to the town hall where huge red banners saying ‘RIP Leeds carbon budget have been unfurled on the steps.

In a change of plans, the protestors say they will now be staging the mock funeral on the steps of Leeds Town Hall. They’re planning to march along the Headrow from the magistrates’ court to the town hall shortly.

Once there, they plan to unfurl red banners to represent what they say is blood on the council’s hands after it signed off the Leeds Bradford Airport expansion plans that are now due to be the subject of a government inquiry.

Our reporter Daniel Sheridan at Leeds Magistrates’ Court where Extinction Rebellion protestors are staging a mock funeral for Leeds' carbon budget and the right to protest.

The plans for Leeds Bradford Airport have been the source of intense debate, with supporters saying it will provide a valuable boost the local economy and opponents pointing to the environmental cost of more people flying from there in the future.

In March 2021, Leeds City Council gave approval to the £150m scheme that would see the existing terminal demolished and replaced - but campaigners, as well as both Labour and Tory MPs, supported calls for a public inquiry.

The Government announced last month that a public inquiry will be held into the application.

Here’s how campaigners reacted to the news:

And what the airport had to say:

Extinction Rebellion are to protest in Leeds city centre this lunchtime. Here’s what it is all about: