AN ENVIRONMENTAL activist group dressed as Grim Reapers blockaded an entrance to the biggest oil refinery in the UK.
Extinction Rebellion members from Brighton joined a protest that included mounting two-metre-high steel tripods stopping entry into ExxonMobil's Hythe fuel storage terminal next to Fawley Refinery in Hampshire.
The climate campaigners pumped fake blood from an oil barrel while other campaigners enacted a die-in, a form of protest in which participants simulate being dead.
Jon Kennedy, 42, a mechanical design engineer from Brighton, said: "The impacts of just 1.1 degrees increased heat is all around us - from the droughts that bring massive forest fires to the increased evaporation that's resulting in fatal flooding.
"These impacts are coming faster than predicted, yet worse is to come and soon it could be beyond human control to set limits on heating as more climate feedback loops are triggered."
Venetia Carter, 57, a tutor from Brighton, said: "Our governments have been complicit in their failure to transition to renewables.
"They blame demand for fossil fuels, as if this isn't a result of their own energy and transport policies."
Protesters have said that they are protesting against ExxonMobil because of the "devastating effects" that the production of fossil fuel has had on the environment over the last 40 years.
The protestors have pledged to continue their blockade until Fawley management come to the gates to answer their concerns, however, The Argus has learnt the protest has ended.
A spokesman for ExxonMobil said: "ExxonMobil respects the right of people to protest peacefully and to express their opinions.
"Our primary concern is for the safety of our staff and property, our neighbours and the protestors themselves.
"We are working closely with the police to monitor the situation and minimise the inconvenience to our staff and our neighbouring communities."
The Fawley Refinery has not been affected by the protest.
The campaign group Extinction Rebellion has also teamed up with Ocean Rebellion - an activist group that wants to stop pollution from entering the ocean - to project the immediate demand for a ban on new fossil fuel investment on a tanker moored at ExxonMobil Fawley's jetty.
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