This Friday, 27th August, Extinction Rebellion Salisbury and Extinction Rebellion Wimborne will be coming together to protest the actions of Rockhopper Exploration, a Salisbury-based oil and gas production company.

The climate-change activist group says despite repeated warnings about the dangers of climate change, there are still those who fight hard to carry on raking in the profits and promoting business as usual.

According to the group, Rockhopper Exploration plc is suing the Italian government under the Energy Charter Treaty using an obscure legal mechanism called the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).

They say Rockhopper has been stopped from drilling for oil off the Adriatic coast. Reports suggest the firm could be asking for as much as $275m in damages which it will then use to exploit an enormous oilfield off the coast of the Falklands.

“How can this be allowed to happen during a climate and ecological emergency?” Questions Extinction Rebellion.

The group will congregate at the Market Place at midday on Friday, where there will be speakers, a samba band, banners and leaflets.

The protestors will then march up Castle Street to deliver a letter to Rockhopper, asking them to stop the damaging action. The group will be dressed in black to represent oil and tying a white scarf around their faces, bandit style, bearing the slogan: ‘Rockhopper climate Bandits’.

“If the world is to transition to zero-carbon, international treaties such as the Energy Charter Treaty and the ISDS mechanism need to end,” argue the group.

Find out more about Extinction Rebellion Salisbury here.