It has been a week of rebellion that has just come to a close in Rome. From 5 to 11 October, activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) organised protests at a number of significant locations across the capital against the "disarming superficiality" of government climate policies. "We rebel because it is the last road left to save ourselves and to imagine a future fit for life — our own and that of those who will come after us," they declared.

Following the style that characterises and distinguishes it from other protest groups, XR organised demonstrative actions ranging from sit-ins to moments of (peaceful and distanced) dancing to attract the attention of passers-by.

"We are mothers, fathers, students, teachers. Ordinary people, driven to rebel in the face of the blindness and silence that surrounds the greatest threat humanity has ever had to confront."

Extinction Rebellion

How Extinction Rebellion's week of rebellion unfolded

Extinction Rebellion's week of rebellion began on Monday 5 October in Piazza San Silvestro in Rome with a non-violent direct action aimed at the government to demand greater environmental action. Five years after the signing of the Paris Agreement, not one G20 country — the informal international body representing the world's nineteen most industrialised nations and the European Union — has provided clear guidance on how to reduce its emissions in order to respect the 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) limit.

The Invisible Circus, also known as the red rebel brigade, also took part in the protests. It is one of the most spectacular elements of Extinction Rebellion protests, in which demonstrators have their faces painted a ghostly white and are dressed in red to represent the blood of the species threatened by climate change, including our own. In Rome they danced around a series of "bodies" — a metaphorical gesture to symbolise the imminent destruction of the human species if action is not taken in time. Meanwhile, Stayin' Alive, the famous Bee Gees track and soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever, rang out across the squares.

Law enforcement deployed against demonstrators

At the same time, in Piazza del Parlamento, another non-violent action was due to take place in which demonstrators were to read out and hand over a document to Parliament, but they were blocked by law enforcement and forced to leave.

Who are the real criminals? Those who rebel for Life, or those who are driving Life itself towards extinction?

Extinction Rebellion

"Law enforcement officers were present in every surrounding street; in the square alone there were four police vans and more officers than people — demonstrators and otherwise. A deployment of force more befitting a terrorist group than a radically and programmatically non-violent movement, whose peaceful intentions and methods the authorities are already well aware of," the movement denounced on its Facebook page.

A demonstration against Assocarni

On the afternoon of Wednesday 7 October, activists from Animal Save Italia and Climate Save Italia joined XR and took to Piazza di Spagna in Rome for an unauthorised action of non-violent civil disobedience directed at the headquarters of Assocarni, the national association for the meat and livestock industry and trade.

The activists dressed up as manure and organised a non-violent flash mob to symbolise the "lies of the livestock industry," which continues undeterred to conceal its own responsibilities by hiding behind new and absurd labels of "sustainability" and "animal welfare."

A week of rebellion outside Eni's headquarters

One of the most significant actions to take place during the week of rebellion was the protest at the Rome headquarters of Eni, one of the largest oil companies in the world, where activists chained themselves to the gates of the building with the intention of remaining there indefinitely.

"An Italian story of false advertising, green lies and very suspicious paradoxes," they describe it. "With this action, as well as denouncing the crimes committed by Eni and seeking to broaden public debate on them, the activists are asking to be joined by the minister of economic development Stefano Patuanelli and to be able to hand him a set of specific demands. […] We would like to discuss with you how to prevent this business as usual from continuing, which now seems like a blind dance on the edge of a precipice."

For the time being, the activists' demands have not been heard.