MIND THE SCRAP
TWO Extinction Rebellion protesters who felt the wrath of commuters when they clambered on top of a Tube have been unmasked as an ex-monk and a bookkeeper.
James Mee, 35, was seen being pulled from the roof by furious passengers at Canning Town in East London before being jeered and roughed up.
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The accounts administrator, from Bristol, had kicked out at one of the commuters but was pulled in to the jeering crowd.
The stunt was led by 'professional protester' Mark Ovland, 36, who gave up his full-time Buddhist teacher training studies earlier this year to join the group.
When he was 24, he lived in India for a year as a monk and said in an interview with the website Everyday Mindfulness that he experienced a "profound mystical awakening" when he travelled there with a friend.
After returning to the UK, he became a trainee Buddhist teacher, even going into prisons to assist a Buddhist chaplain.
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Mr Ovland gave this up earlier this year to become a full-time protester for Extinction Rebellion.
He has been repeatedly arrested over the last two weeks.
The protester will go on trial later this year after allegedly gluing himself to a train at Canary Wharf during Extinction Rebellion's April demos.
Ahead of the protest - which he described as a "belly scream" - he said he wanted to "polarise opinion" and "create an emotional response to really shake things up".
The 36-year-old, from Devon, said he wanted to "create a response where people have to get off the fence" and was "using the transport system to raise the alarm".
Mr Ovland and other protesters faced the wrath of London commuters this morning by climbing on to the roof of carriages on a Jubilee Line train at Canning Town in East London.
CHAOTIC SCENES
Furious commuters at the crowded station lobbed drinks at Mr Mee before he was yanked from the train to the platform floor.
Mr Ovland was also chased down the Tube before being pulled into the crowd of irate Londoners.
The violent scenes erupted as Extinction Rebellion admitted it had scored a massive own goal by targeting Londoners just trying to board trains to work.
British Transport Police confirmed eight people had been arrested on suspicion of obstructing the railway this morning but urged commuters not to "take matters into their own hands".
A member of Transport for London staff appeared to intervene to stop people from attacking one activist further by holding them back.
'MOB WENT CRAZY'
A man yelled "I need to get to work, I have to feed my kids", while others shouted insults at activists.
One of the eco-warriors was Robin Boardman-Pattison, 21, who went to a £17,500-a-year private school - but the globe-trotter did not climb on top of the Tube.
The "YouTube poet" stormed off Sky News earlier this year after being called "incompetent and middle-class".
Extinction Rebellion cameraman Elliot Laughlin claims he was "beaten up" by up to 20 people when he filmed the demonstration.
Elliot, who is from Bristol, said he was thrown to the ground and left with cuts and bruises following the "mob mentality".
Footage showed him being pulled over by a crowd of people as he tried to cling on to his camera.
He said he didn't "wholeheartedly" support the protest - but said he wasn't scared of the mob, just "frightened of what happens if our f***ing food systems collapse".
'OWN GOAL'
Among other protesters was 77-year-old vicar Sue Parfitt, a grandfather, and a former GP who glued themselves to electric DLR lines and tube services at Stratford and Shadwell, East London.
One commuter shouted at them: “What are you doing? It’s a f***ing electric train!”
Leaders of the movement admitted the targeting of the commuters had been "an own goal" following a severe public backlash.
XR spokesperson Fergal McEntee appeared to backtrack on the chaos - telling LBC he wouldn't have supported stopping a Tube.
He said: "Public support for this isn't going to be very good."
PROTESTERS SLAMMED
The group later released a statement yesterday saying: "It is regrettable that there was violence at today’s action at Canning Town tube station. We would like to express our sadness that events escalated this way.
"The people involved today did not take this action lightly. They were a grandfather, an ex-buddhist teacher, a vicar and a former GP among others who acted out of rational fear for the future as this crisis deepens."
Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, criticised the action and said: "So what point is Extinction Rebellion making shutting down east London’s public transport system, preventing ordinary people from getting to work, school, hospital?"
Tory MP Tobias Ellwood added: "This response in London today has my full support. Extinction Rebellion undermines its noble cause with such disruptive and illegal stunts.
"Well done to the general public for swiftly standing as one, stepping forward and closing the incident down when individuals break the law."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan condemned the protest, calling it "an unfair burden on our already overstretched police officers".
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Piers Morgan also lashed out at the protesters, saying: "The only ‘shocking’ bit is that these selfish stupid XR cretins thought they could stop working class people in the East End trying to go to work on public transport....To quote a phrase: How DARE you?
"I stand 100 per cent with the Canning Town chump-dumpers."
Now Extinction Rebellion organisers have said they will “take stock” over whether to continue with future disruption to the transport network.
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Extinction Rebellion protestor gets pulled from the top of a train as they begin their planned disruption of the tube
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