The Green Party's London Mayoral candidate, Jenny Jones, will take part tomorrow in a new campaign by UK environmental group, Climate Rush [1], to highlight the severity of the capital's air pollution problem.
Jenny Jones will make a keynote speech ahead of the Roadblock protest. A group of cyclists will hit London's streets and stage a "die-in" at an unspecified location, holding the space for up to 29 minutes, symbolic of the 29 000 premature deaths attributed to poor air quality in the UK - nearly 5% of all annual UK deaths.
Doctors and nurses will check the pulses of the protesters and mark the position of their bodies with chalk.
Jones, along with London Assembly colleague Darren Johnson, has fought an ongoing battle with London Mayor Boris Johnson to reduce the city's deadly pollution levels.
Jenny Jones said: "Clean air is rapidly emerging as the number one environmental and public health issue for Londoners. This is hardly surprising when both the government and Mayor have done so little about the pollution which is killing the equivalent of an estimated 4300 Londoners every year.
"Young, energetic campaigners like Climate Rush will ensure that clean air is a big priority during the Mayoral elections.
"The real test for Mayoral candidates is whether they can agree to take real action to reduce traffic, lower fares and create a very low emission zone which only allows the cleanest of vehicles to enter central London."
Notes
1) For further information see: http://www.climaterush.co.uk/archives/572