'We are gathered here today to join, in holy matrimony, Environment Minister Barbara Creecy with her one true love, Big Oil, while her jilted lover, Planet Earth cries silently.' This was the troth plighted outside the venue of Africa Oil Week in Cape Town on Thursday.

Extinction Rebellion is well known for its creative forms of protest action but its most recent demonstration takes the cake. A mock wedding ceremony was held on Thursday by Extinction Rebellion (XR) Cape Town outside the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) where oil magnates from around the continent gathered for Africa Oil Week.

Judy Scott-Goldman, a spokesperson for XR Cape Town, explained that they held this mock wedding between figures representing Environment Minister Barbara Creecy and Big Oil, as the minister has "firmly turned her back on the planet for her first love, Big Oil".

Delegates meandering outside the oil conference were confused when they saw a woman in a white wedding dress with the minister's face below a pink and white veil, holding a bouquet of flowers and looking lovingly at a suited figure wearing a fossil fuels mask.

Another figure wearing a Planet Earth costume was crying on the sidelines -- representing Creecy's "jilted lover".

Security personnel approached XR Cape Town members while they were setting up the mock wedding, and said they had been instructed to remove the activists, but on hearing that they were on public property, retreated and the "wedding preparation" resumed.

"We're sad...