Extinction Rebellion holds flash mob protest in Sheffield to draw awareness to COP26 climate summit

Extinction Rebellion members took part in a flash mob style protest, which they called Dancing While the Planet Burns, on Union Street in Sheffield city centre.

Members of the environmental group wore white masks and black clothing and slow danced in the street while other held banners, one of which read “Stop using fossil fuels!”

One member was dressed in a red and orange outfit representing fire and the destructive affects of global warming on the planet.

On Extinction Rebellion Sheffield’s Facebook page, a member wrote: “This is an outreach, flash mob type event to draw public awareness to the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference, which is scheduled to be held in Glasgow from 31st October to 12th November. This conference, hosted by the UK, has been described by America’s climate envoy John Kerry as “the last best hope for the world to get its act together” to avoid the worst consequences of global heating.

"Following the release of the sobering IPCC report in August, Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General warned that the report was “a code red for humanity”.

“The dramatic action targets the most polluting high street banks, and symbolises the shocking failure to act on the warning from the IPCC, as major players continue to pursue profit and ‘dance’ while our planet burns.”

Protestors met for a debrief before taking part in the ‘Burning Ballroom’ event.

The dancers had labels on their backs marking them out as ‘Financiers’, ‘Oils executives’, and ‘Media Moguls’, and danced to a Shostakovich waltz while staring at their mobile phones.

The COP26 climate summit is a meeting of world leaders to discuss policies to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and limit the level of global warming to 1.5 degrees.

The summit, which will be held in Glasgow from October 31 - November 12 has been widely considered as the last chance for world leaders to come up with an effective response to the threat of climate change.