72 per cent of XR members don’t agree with disrupting the Underground

Three quarters of Extinction Rebellion members don’t agree with disrupting the Underground, a poll has revealed, after an XR protest on the tube led to a rush hour brawl.

72 per cent thought it was a “bad idea, no matter how it’s done”, according to an internal poll of nearly 4000 XR members reported by the Guardian.

Commuters yanked two protestors from the top of a London Underground train at Canning Town tube station during rush hour, whilst an 83-year-old XR activist glued himself to a train at Shadwell.

London Underground staff shielded the protestors from irate commuters at Canning Town, with the action dividing opinion inside and outside of XR.

The anonymous internal poll of 3,824 XR members found that overall, only 11 per cent approved of the action.

Seven per cent said they only approved if trains wouldn’t get blocked underground, whilst four per cent said Affinity Groups could decide how to go about it.

14 per cent said they opposed if people might be blocked underground.

Three per cent didn’t know.

XR has no central structure or defined leaders – its most prominent figures are referred to as “co-founders”, including former King’s College London PhD student Roger Hallam.

Instead, the movement is split into autonomous “Affinity Groups”. Larger actions, such as the mass occupations in central London, are co-ordinated between several Affinity Groups. However individual protests, such as disrupting trains, can be done by a single, smaller group, despite disapproval from the wider XR movement.

Over 1,500 people have been arrested so far during XR’s October protests.

Despite a ban by the police, the group have continued to cause disruption. On Tuesday, student activists staged a “sleep-in” at King’s College London.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• ‘Everyone’s worried about getting arrested’: KCL XR stage a sleep-in despite protest ban

• Who is Roger Hallam? The Ex King’s student and organiser of Extinction Rebellion

• I went to an Extinction Rebellion class on how to get arrested