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Commons roof protester praises family’s support
Miranda Bryant and Peter Dominiczak13 Oct 2009
The mother-of-three who led a protest on the House of Commons roof admits her family are “baffled” by her climate stunts.
Emma Gibson, 40, who has previously jumped in front of a coal freighter, also said it would be “impossible” to be a full-time Greenpeace activist without her husband's support.
Her comments came before she and other demonstrators ended their 28-hour rooftop protest.
Fifty-four protesters climbed onto the roof on Sunday afternoon, unfurling yellow banners reading: “Change the politics, save the climate.”
The action was aimed at MPs returning from summer recess.
The activists said they had easily breached Commons security using ladders.
On Sunday night, 23 protesters were arrested after they came down off the roof of the Palace of Westminster using a ladder and safety harnesses.
Last night the remaining 31 campaigners ended their demonstration and were arrested and taken to a central London police station.
Mrs Gibson, who lives with her artist husband Stephen Wheeler and three children in Whitstable, Kent, has worked for Greenpeace for 14 years.
Before spending the night in a police cell, she said she had asked to prepare her family for the possibility that she might be detained.
She said: “I asked Steve to ring mum specifically because last time I did something she only happened to see me on the TV talking about nearly being squashed by a ship. She's incredibly proud of me, but she does worry about me a lot.”
A police spokesman said the protesters arrested on Sunday night on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site had been bailed to return in January.
Greenpeace has issued a 12-point manifesto for tackling climate change.
Reader views (2)
The real cause of climate change is population growth - the world's population has almost doubled in the last 40 years! At this rate we will run out of all natural resources very quickly. It's not about going green, cutting omissions, flying less etc. - all a drop in the oceon compared to the real cause of the problem. How many kids does this activist have again?!
- Campbell Johnson, london, 13/10/2009 15:49
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Does this incredibly naive little girl really believe that what we do on this tiny island will make any difference when you have the likes of China and India effectively going through an industrial revolution and burning more fossil fuel than we ever did?
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 13/10/2009 11:56
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