The Daily Swarm

Grist.Org:

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke showed up at the last minute at the climate talks in Copenhagen. He wanted to see what was happening firsthand, especially since NGOs have been taken out of the Bella Center, where the talks are being held.

The Telegraph:

Police in riot gear fired tear gas and used pepper spray to disperse more than 1,000 activists attempting to get into the Bella Centre where the crucial talks are going on. At the same time indigenous people’s groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) carried out a colourful protest inside the conference….The protests brought the conference to a standstill and Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, was prevented from leaving for important meetings in the town centre.

Activists admitted the aim of the protest was to penetrate the UN Climate Change Conference for a “people’s assembly” but were pushed back by hundreds of police with dogs. More than 250 people were arrested….The “Reclaim Power” protest was organised by Climate Justice Action, a coalition of groups from around the world. It follows a 40,000-strong protest at the weekend, where more than 1,000 people were arrested. NGOs, civil society groups and charities, that represent millions of people in Britain, are increasingly angry that they are being left out of the climate change talks and there are expected to be more protests in the coming days…Andy Atkins, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, who joined a “sit-in” of more than 50 protesters after being barred from entering the centre, said it was an “affront to democracy”.