MailOnline today revealed that Extinction Rebellion activists might be secretly meeting at night in a parking lot outside Cambridge. There they could also store their bright pink boat which is the centerpiece of hateful protests.
Members of the climate group are said to gather with car headlights on and speak with ‘hushed tones’ as they plan their demonstrations and have been seen putting together their scaffolding-type structures used to cause traffic chaos in London and outside businesses they don’t like.
Just down the street, Nick Skelton is an active protestor and XR host. He also uses DJ Skunk to promote his radio station. MailOnline told him that he didn’t know anything about the meet-ups held every quarter 50 yards from his house.
One neighbor claims that six protestors gather in the dark to practice setting up tipi-like structures made of wood. These are often used as barriers to traffic during rallies.
MailOnline was told by the man who requested anonymity: “They meet in the darkness with their car headlights on as some sort of secret meeting. They’re tucked up in the corner and trying to not draw too much attention to themselves. It’s a fairly quiet place, you wouldn’t notice them as you were driving by.’
The group could have used the parking lot to get ready for the Black Friday demonstration at Amazon Distribution Centres.
The XR activists have also hidden their pink boat in the far end. It is roughly the size of a 5-aside football pitch. It is approximately two meters high and five metres in length. The boat was covered by grey tarpaulin.
It is believed to have been present for over a year. XR members were seen there at least three more times in 2021. However, activist Skelton claimed it was nothing to do his. A neighbour said that the boat had been in the car park since March 2020.
Nick said: ‘I can’t be implicated in anything. Anything that’s written down is incriminating or could be incriminating, and as you know it [the boat]Protests are made possible by this symbol.
“The boat has just arrived here one day. I know it’s there but it’s not mine. It lives there. It is then taken away by someone else and reappears. I don’t move it and I don’t have access to the trailer or anything.’
An unassuming park in the suburbs of Cambridge is where Extinction Rebellion supporters meet to plan disruptive demonstrations.
In a corner in the parking lot, XR’s pink boat (which has been used in many demonstrations) is covered with grey tarpaulin
Extinction Rebellion activist Nick Skelton also uses the name DJ Skunk in a radio program that he hosts. He lives just a few minutes from the parking lot, but denies any involvement with meetings at this location.
Under the boat, two paint pots and many planks made of four-metre-long wooden are kept.
On November 4, 2021, activists from Extinction Rebellion blockade the roads to Schlumberger (an engineering company), by the pink boat.
Extinction Rebellion protesters pictured in Oxford Circus, central London, in August using the pink boat to block a busy junction
Nick, 68, denied taking part in the secret meetings of XR activists as he spoke on the doorstep of his semi-detached house, which has a large fabric banner in the front garden reading ‘A better world is possible’.
Nick, who was last year charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage in relation to an XR protest before the charge was dropped, said: ‘I’m not involved in that. I’m disabled so all I can do is hold a flag or write a letter to an MP.’
While he confirmed the ownership of the pink boat to XR, it was not his personal property.
Two large yellow skips are positioned alongside the boat, along with a portaloo as well as a Toyota Yaris red car that Nick apparently owns.
Under the boat, you will find two paint pots and several planks four meters long of wood.
One neighbor claimed that he saw XR protestors in the parking lot on three occasions last year. This was in addition to the Black Friday demonstrations at Amazon distribution centers.
He stated, “They meet to put up their tipis. Practice runs are done at night, before they go out. It’s always in the evening with three to six people.’
Mr Skelton, 68, he spoke on the doorstep of his semi-detached house, which has a large fabric banner in the front garden reading ‘A better world is possible’
A fence was attached outside the house of Mr Skelton, which is a few minutes from the remote parking lot.
Extinction Rebellion is an ex-violent, nonviolent civil resistance movement that has held countless protests across the UK.
This campaign has been targeting busy areas across Britain since April 2019 including central London. It also targets commuters who are unable to use the roads or unable to bind themselves onto trains.
October 2019: XR began a series of two-week actions called ‘International Rebellion’ that took place in 60 locations around the world.
This included demonstrations in London that saw many thousand of people block Whitehall, Westminster Bridge and Lambeth Bridge as well as Trafalgar Square and Downing Street.
A fire engine was used by the terrorists to spray fake blood on and around Treasury.
Recently, 44 protestors were detained at demonstrations held outside Amazon distribution centers.
The group claimed protests took place at sites in Doncaster, Darlington, Newcastle, Manchester, Peterborough, Derby, Coventry, Rugeley, Dartford, Bristol, Tilbury, Milton Keynes and Dunfermline.
In the wee hours of Friday, activists arrived to put up bamboo structures and “lock-ons” and to hold banners calling on Amazon to reduce its carbon emissions.
Extinction Rebellion activists block Coventry’s entry to Amazon fulfillment centre, which prevents lorries leaving or entering on Black Friday
Demonstrators protesting the Extinction Rebellion outside BAE Systems at the Cop26 summit held in Glasgow, November 4,
Animal Rebellion activists marche past St Paul’s Cathedral in the Extinction Rebellion climate demonstration held in London during August
Officers stand before the Guildhall’s Guildhall building, daubed with paint in an Extinction Rebellion demonstration in August.
Last month, Extinction Rebellion pledged to mobilise two million protestors to launch what it says will be ‘the largest act of civil resistance in UK history’ in April next year.
After criticizing November’s COP26 summit on climate change, it made the promise after claiming that the summit did not do enough to address the crisis.
They stated that while the participation of activists in protests declined in the wake of the pandemic, they still hoped for record numbers to take part in them in 2022.
It is the famous pink boat that has appeared in Extinction Rebellion protests. In April 2019, it was used to stop traffic at Oxford Street Junction in London.
Many Extinction Rebellion supporters (including British Olympians Laura Baldwin & Etienne Stott) also joined the boat chained after they gained access to ExxonMobil’s Fawley oil terminal in the New Forest of Hampshire.