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A grandfather from Bristol who laid down in the road and kept trying to get himself arrested outside Parliament said at his age he ‘has little to lose’ from being thrown in the cells.

Police told Phil Kingston, from Patchway, they didn’t want to arrest him because he’s 82, so they kept picking him and putting him on the side of the road.

But the stubborn granddad simply kept going back and lying down in the road on Parliament Square in London again to block the traffic.

The retired Bristol University lecturer said he did it for his four grandchildren’s future, and compared his actions to that of the Suffragettes and the Civil Rights movement.

Mr Kingston was taking part in the ‘Extinction Rebellion’ non-violent direct action to protest against Government inaction over climate change and the environment.

The octogenarian church-goer said he was inspired to take direct action by his own faith - he was there with a group called Christian Climate Action, and attends Holy Family Catholic Church in Bristol.

In the end, he gave up trying to get himself arrested, even though he wanted to be.

“I’m 82, my working life is past me so I have little to lose from being arrested for peaceful protest,” he said.

“I encourage my fellow retired elders to join me.

“It’s harder for young people, a criminal record or arrest might prevent them getting certain jobs, but us retired folk have nothing to be scared of on that front. And what better reason to get arrested than trying to make the world a better place,” he said.

“I was lying in the road with the other protestors and the police picked me up and took me to the side but they didn’t want to arrest me because of my age.

“So I just kept going back and lying down again in the road with the others. I think the police were a bit bemused,” he added.

The protest was the national version of similar ones that have been building up in Bristol in recent weeks and months under a campaign umbrella called Rising Up.

Last month, protestors sprayed the walls of Bristol Magistrates Court, and then later in October held up traffic on Baldwin Street at The Centre.

Mr Kingston said he is prepared to go to jail for his conviction that the UK Government should do much more to tackle climate change.

The protest in London came after the latest Budget from Chancellor Philip Hammond made no mention of climate change or what to do about it.

“I am prepared to be arrested and go to prison if that’s what it takes to get our politicians to listen,” he said.

“The Suffragettes, and those that won civil rights in America, broke the law fighting for equality so it seems fair enough for me to do it to help secure a safe climate for all of humanity.

“I love my grandchildren and I’m worried that the world we’re handing over to them is going to be much worse than the one I inherited.

“We’re already seeing the impacts of one degree of climate breakdown around the world; new extremes of hurricanes, heat waves and flooding.

“We are the first generation to know the full extent of climate breakdown and also the last to be able to do something about it.

“The actions of this Conservative Government are making the problem worse, they are cutting renewable subsidies and boosting fracking.

“If they are not going to act responsibly then we need to use our democratic voice and nonviolent bodies to tell them so,” he added.

Mr Kingston said that despite being prepared to be arrested, the police were reluctant to do so.

He was removed five times from the road he eventually relented when the protest drew to a close.