PLEA Network

30 November 2015, New Matilda, 10,000 Empty Shoes And A Mist Of Pepper Spray Open Paris Climate Talks. Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was supposed to visit a memorial for those killed in the Paris terror attacks, but was diverted after climate protestors clashed with police. New Matilda’s environmental reporter Thom Mitchell was on the scene. Around 10,000 empty pairs of shoes rested solemnly in La Place de la Republique, in the heart of Paris on Sunday, the day before make-or-break-climate change negotiations get underway in the French capital. They were placed there to stand in stead of the hundreds of thousands expected to have marched if not for a ‘State of Emergency’ ban on political gatherings in public spaces, itself defied by more than 5,000 people who swarmed into the historic political space later that afternoon. Read More here