His engagement could recall that of a certain Greta Thunberg.
Buried in an underground tunnel dug near one of London's busiest streets, Blue Sandford, 18, says he is ready to do anything to derail the construction of a high-speed line serving central and northern London. England.
Nicknamed the British Greta Thunberg, the young girl has become a leading figure in the protest movement against the HS2 project, a colossal project disputed both for its astronomical cost, its repeated delays and its potential cost to the environment.
While the authorities have tried for several days to dislodge a dozen protesters from the tunnel dug under Euston Square Gardens, Blue vows to make their task as difficult as possible.
" I am very tired.
I am ready to leave if necessary, but I am here for the long term, ”she told AFP.
Activists from @ Hs2Rebellion are risking their lives at the minute in order to # StopHS2.
They've dug a 100ft tunnel under Euston Square Gardens to stop the development of HS2.
Check out this video for more 👉 https://t.co/xgpyuist50
- XR Newcastle Universities 📚 (@XRNewcastleUnis) January 30, 2021
According to her, the activists have enough provisions to hold out for several more weeks in the 30 m long structure, located a little less than a meter underground.
One of the protesters of the HS2 Rebellion group is Daniel Hooper, nicknamed "Swampy" by the British press, who had already spent a week in a tunnel in 1996 in an attempt to stop the construction of a road in the southwest of England.
This time he is accompanied by his teenage son.
In February 2020, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson validated the High Speed Two (HS2) project despite an astronomical cost that could exceed 100 billion pounds (around 112.5 billion euros).
The project had encountered opposition from part of the political class, some calling instead for investments to modernize existing regional lines.
Forests threatened with destruction
It will be the UK's second high-speed line after HS1, used by Eurostar, connecting London to France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
For opponents of HS2, the site, which kicked off last year, will destroy an old wood and compromise the country's efforts to achieve its climate goals.
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HS2 is "a vain project that will destroy countless forests and kill people across the climate," says Blue Sandford.
The tunnel is "really very extreme, but we are in an extreme situation", she explains.
“We are facing societal collapse”
Tonight on #TheNine, we speak to 18-year-old Blue Sandford.
She is one of the environmental activists inhabiting one of the man-made tunnels near Euston station in protest against the £ 106bn HS2 rail project.
9pm on the @BBCScotland channel.
pic.twitter.com/vdiIXNaLhv
- The Nine (@BBCScotNine) February 2, 2021
In October, to mark their opposition to the project, environmental activists climbed to the top of trees in Buckinghamshire (central England), in a forest known to have inspired the fantastic universe of Roald Dahl's books.
A "school strike" to defend the planet
The girl, originally from north London, has been compared to Greta Thunberg since she observed "a school strike" to devote herself to the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion more than a year ago.
A comparison that she finds "quite flattering" because Greta Thunberg is "cool and inspiring".
According to British media reports, Blue's father, who attended a private school in London, is also an environmental activist, who lives in a remote location on an island in Scotland.
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