A PROTEST staged by Extinction Rebellion campaigners is to take place in Colchester city centre this weekend.

Extinction Rebellion, a global movement which draws attention to climate change by causing civil disobedience, will gather at the junction where Maidenburgh Street meets Colchester High Street.

At 1.30pm on Saturday, they intend to conduct a spoof unveiling of blue plaques outside what was formerly Colchester Conservative Club, in the High Street.

The former establishment was independent of the Conservative political party.

Saturday's protest will be one of numerous protests taking place across the UK, when there will be a national day of action against sewage pollution.

In particular, protestors are criticising the government’s rejection of an amendment made to the Environment Bill which, if passed, would have legally compelled water companies to reduce raw sewage discharge.

Colchester Conservative MP Will Quince voted against the amendment in 2021.

Dr Ellisif Wasmuth, who is a philosophy lecturer at Essex University, is the spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion Colchester.

She said: “We’ve watched in horror as our rivers and seas have become open sewers since October 2021, when the government voted down a proposal to stop water companies pumping waste directly into our rivers and seas.

"These plaques shine a light on Will Quince and the government’s failure to protect our waterways, the natural world, and us all.”