Maajid Nawaz's Take On Extinction Rebellion Climate Change Protests

19 April 2019, 11:17 | Updated: 30 April 2019, 11:52

On day five of the Extinction Rebellion protests, Maajid Nawaz finally had an opportunity to give his take on the protests - and he wants to say 'thank you'.

Young climate change protesters have launched a small protest outside Heathrow airport, amid a plan to "shut down" the transport hub.

After several "non-violent civil disobedience" protests in recent days, Extinction Rebellion group announced on Thursday that it planned to "raise the bar" at the UK's busiest airport, which is expected to be used by almost 250,000 people today.

The home secretary had told police they could use the "full force of the law" to stop illegal demonstrations during the Easter break.

Maajid Nawaz expressed his opinion on the protests as he said: "It's annoying that your bridge is closed, it's annoying that you can't go shopping in Oxford circus, it's annoying that you're going to miss your flight...even more annoying if you miss an urgent hospital appointment...

"But if we zoom out a bit, none of that really matters if our planet suffers irreversible damage to a point where your grand-children will end up living in a very different world - in a world that is less and less hospitable and the wildlife and animals and the bees start dying off at a rate that is no longer reversible."

Maajid expressed: "Anything that raises our collective consciousness in a non-violent and peaceful way must surely be an okay thing to do."

He conceded that the demonstrations were "not perfect" but that if they've made the environment a topic of conversation, then he wanted to say "thank you, for making us all scrutinise our behaviour and question ourselves".

The presenter also spoke about the charges of hypocrisy and said that it was "the very essence of the point"; he explained that taking a flight or not to join the protests wouldn't make a difference, but further demonstrated the point that we need "systemic change".