Protesters Put Solar Panels on Prescott's Roof
Date: 27-Apr-05
Country: UK
Four women and four men scaled Prescott's house in Hull, northwest England at dawn, erecting temporary solar panels on each of the house's two mock turrets.
A banner hanging from one of the turrets read "Hi, 2 Jags! Hit targets not voters," in a reference to Prescott's ownership of two Jaguar saloon cars.
"Housing is responsible for a quarter of Britain's CO2 emission," Laura Yates, 27, told Reuters by mobile phone from the rooftop protest.
"It's a major contributor to the climate change problem and Prescott could do something about this, particularly with the millions of new homes that are going to be built in Britain over the next years," she said.
"He's overseeing this house building programme and he should be ensuring that every one of these new homes is built to zero emissions standards," she added.
At around 2:50 p.m. (1350 GMT) police arrested the eight protestors after they voluntarily climbed down from the roof with the solar panels, which they left by Prescott's door.
Prescott, who was not at home at the time of the protest, is responsible for housing and regional development, and has proposed a massive house-building plan across southern England.
He has been closely linked with Britain's attempts to tackle global warming, having been the UK negotiator for the Kyoto climate change agreement.
A Labour Party spokesman criticised the protest.
"John Prescott is entitled to privacy at his own home as much as anybody else. It is a pity Greenpeace have not respected that."
