Climate activists, united under the 'Code Red' banner, want to completely block the TotalEnergies site in the Walloon municipality of Feluy in the Hainaut province on Saturday, to call on the fossil fuel industry to take responsibility for the climate.
The activists have strategically spread out in different groups around the TotalEnergies site, aiming to completely block the infrastructure. Around 1,000 people are taking part, according to reports from the organisation.
"The participants in this action are people like you and me who denounce the ecological and social disaster caused by the activities of companies like TotalEnergies," said a spokesperson for Code Red, Jolien Paeleman, who is present at the action. "TotalEnergies has made record profits in recent months in a context of the climate crisis and deep social misery, where families can no longer pay their energy bills."
The activists hung banners calling on the French energy giant to stop its "neo-colonial fossil fuel extraction projects."
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"Instead of getting caught up in discussions about climate debt and finger-pointing, the Federal Government should go after the real culprits of this crisis. Fossil fuel companies must pay for a just transition away from fossil fuels," said Paeleman.
"New fossil fuel projects should be stopped. People in countries that are historically least responsible for the CO2 in our atmosphere, but pay the highest price for the climate crisis, should be compensated."
Observers from the International Federation of Human Rights, Amnesty International and the League for Human Rights are on the ground, as are MPs, to evaluate whether the right to peaceful assembly is respected and protected, the organisation said.
This is the first action of Code Red, a movement supported by numerous other organisations including Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion Belgium, Grandparents for Climate and Peace Action, among others.
Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
