Extinction Rebellion officially launched on the 31st of October 2018 with an event called the Declaration of Rebellion outside the UK Parliament. The group gathered in Stroud during April 2018 to draft goals before this official launch.
Extinction Rebellion employs mass arrest as a core strategy to generate attention by wasting police time and disrupting daily life. During the April 2019 protests in London, there were 1130 arrests made within a single week while a second wave in October 2019 resulted in 1832 arrests under International Rebellion.
Gail Bradbrook, Roger Hallam, Simon Bramwell, and Stuart Basden gathered in Stroud during April 2018 to form the founding group of Extinction Rebellion. Specialized wings include Doctors for XR which supports health professionals, XR Youth formed by July 2019, and Christian Climate Action with over 1000 members.
A YouGov poll conducted on the 15th of October 2019 found that 54% of British adults strongly opposed or somewhat opposed actions aiming to shut down London. In September 2021 another survey asked 3,296 British adults where 49% responded very negative or fairly negative toward the group.
Roger Hallam received a suspended two year sentence in April 2024 for attempting to block Heathrow Airport with drones and was sentenced to five years imprisonment in July 2024 after blocking the M25 motorway. Between 2015 and 2022 thirty-two individuals were referred to the Prevent strategy for Left Wing Environmental reasons.