Extinction Rebellion protesters were dramatically cleared from Trafalgar Square in under an hour after police banned ‘any assembly’ within London – with a Green Party MEP one of those being questioned.
Hundreds of protesters blocked roads in the City of London yesterday in an attempt to use Hong-Kong inspired protests to cause maximum disruption to authorities, but the eight-day action was cut a week short by 9pm yesterday evening.
Metropolitan Police issued a statement warning ‘any assembly linked to the Extinction Rebellion Autumn Uprising’ to ‘cease their protests within London (Metropolitan Police Service, and City of London areas) by 9pm’.
At 11pm Trafalgar Square was almost completely cleared – in stark contrast to just an hour before when tents were still raised and crowds of protesters stood wearing their raincoats in the autumnal drizzle.
Police arrest Eleanor Elizabeth Chowns, Green Party Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands, while clearing an Extinction Rebellion environmental activists campsite at Trafalgar square yesterday
Eleanor Chowns was arrested under Section 14 of the Public Order Act (1986) after she refused to leave the area while requesting justification for the removal of peaceful protesters
Hundreds of protesters blocked roads in the City of London yesterday in an attempt to use Hong-Kong inspired protests to cause maximum disruption to authorities, but the action was cut a week short by the evening. Pictured, a protester’s arrest
A gazebo is taken down from the centre of Trafalgar Square while police officers guard the area
Green Party MEP Eleanor Elizabeth Chowns was spotted in a police van as she joined others being arrested as officers waded in to prevent any further disruption.
The arrest was made under Section 14 of the Public Order Act (1986) after Chowns refused to leave the area while requesting justification for the removal of peaceful protesters.
Most protesters have already decamped to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, south of the river, according to Extinction Rebellion.
Earlier yesterday protesters moved along Fleet Street to the Royal Courts of Justice, hoping to shut down the High Court and Court of Appeal.
The group had set up training camps over the weekend as they tried to bring in reinforcements following more than 1,300 arrests last week. Today, the total number of arrested topped 1,400.
Amid heavy rain in London, the numbers of demonstrators seemed much depleted compared to last week.
Shower: Extinction Rebellion shut down roads around the Bank of England this morning as they attempt to push the chaos they are bringing to the capital
Attention-seekers: Extinction Rebellion’s so-called ‘Red Brigade’ were out in the square in front of the Bank of England
Soggy: Numbers of demonstrators were down from last week as downpours turned cardboard signs to mush
In the way: A young demonstrator glued his hand inside the revolving door of Barclays Bank in Canary Wharf
Removal: Large teams of police officers resumed their daily struggle of trying to arrest as many uncompliant protestors as they can. The current number of arrests is more than 1,400
Washout: Numbers of demonstrators was down from last week as rain swept into the capital yesterday morning
They have borrowed the Bruce Lee phrase ‘Be Water’, which was used by the Hong Kong protesters, to describe constantly changing targets to out-fox police.
This morning, dozens of activists are sitting or standing in the road as City workers leave Bank tube station.
In some surrounding streets traffic has been brought to a standstill, with 20 double-decker buses queuing down Lombard Street and King William Street were rendered stationary by the climate change protesters at Bank station.
The driver of the bus at the front of the queue said he had been stuck there for two hours – since 7am – and protesters showed no signs of moving.
Protesters, sheltering under umbrellas, are holding aloft flags bearing the Extinction Rebellion logo, while drummers play.
Activists have covered themselves in a large green tarpaulin to protect against the rain.
Many are holding banners and placards bearing messages targeting financial institutions, such as ‘divest from climate change’ and ‘invest in soil not oil’.
Dave Evans, 32, an IT consultant from London, said he had taken two weeks unpaid leave to join the Extinction Rebellion protests. He said the finance sector needed to ‘stop funding the climate crisis’.
Drain: Unhelpful protesters need up to eight officers each to arrest them, meaning forces in other parts of London struggle
Hands up: Police use a liquid to unstick protesters who have super-glued their hands together on the road
Wet: Some of the group crowded beneath a tarpaulin while others clutched umbrellas as they try to keep the movement going
Dead weight: A protester refuses to assist police, meaning it takes four officers to take him away to the police van
Police have been warning protesters individually that they will be arrested under a Section 40 order for obstructing traffic if they do not leave the area.
Leading activists, such as people carrying drums and a woman with a megaphone, were led away by officers as the crowd cheered them on.
But by around 3pm this afternoon, the police seemed to stop making arrests.
Around 30 activists started a yoga session at the crossroads by Bank. Hundreds more sat on the floor or stood around them.
More than 1,400 people have already been arrested in the protests, part of an ‘international rebellion’ with action taking place in cities around the world.
In the UK, Extinction Rebellion is calling on the Government to declare a climate and ecological emergency, to act immediately to halt wildlife loss and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
Extinction Rebellion said dozens of activists are expected to appear in court this week, including trials connected with previous action in April.
Fancy dress: A protester in a wig and decorated goggles is confronted by police near Mansion House this morning
Detained: Police moved in and warned activists to return to their camp in Trafalgar Square. Those who stayed were arrested
New target: The demonstrators are changing their targets in a bid to wrong-foot stretched police resources
Stubborn: Many had to be carried away when they were arrested, maximising the number of police needed
The Met Police’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said last week that the protests were stretching London’s police resources and hitting victims of real crime elsewhere in the capital.
He said on Friday: ‘Their behaviour still continues. They’ve deliberately set out to seek and cause chaos, they’re performing activity that makes it dangerous and slow for us to clear them.
‘And whilst were not anti-protest, we are against them repeatedly breaking the law and causing this really significant disruption and as the Commissioner said this morning, this isn’t a game for Londoners.
‘We have other things that we should be doing across London. We’ve had to take officers from those local communities and stop doing anything that’s is not critical or urgent towards business and that’s just not right.’
It comes as Scotland Yard’s top officer warned that the Met had been ‘stretched’ by the Extinction Rebellion protests, impeding its ability to respond to other crimes.
Dame Cressida said she hoped the protesters would choose to either ‘protest lawfully’ at Trafalgar Square or ‘go home’.
At around 4pm this afternoon, the roads around Bank and Monument stations were closed due to the protests
Protester dressed as a sprout of broccoli and 77-year-old rabbi are among the 1,400-plus now arrested
A protester was arrested yesterday while dressed as broccoli
A man dressed as broccoli was led away by police in connection to Extinction Rebellion protests in London on Sunday.
The man, who wore green face paint, a suit and a floret-style hat, had previously been seen holding a sign reading: ‘I’m locally sourced and environmentally friendly’.
Robert Greener, who was in Oxford Street on Sunday evening, tweeted a photo of the protester, with the caption: ‘A humble broccoli gets arrested on Oxford Stree’t.
A video posted online showed the man being handcuffed by three officers.
Another witness to the apparent arrest said on Twitter: ‘My fave thing [about] working on Oxford Street and whatever was happening today is getting to see a guy dressed as broccoli being arrested.’
Meanwhile, a rabbi was arrested after kneeling and praying in the middle of the road as part of the protests.
Rabbi Emeritus of Finchley Reform Synagogue, north London, Jeffrey Newman, who was accompanied by around 30 Jewish activists, was arrested at around midday on Monday in the middle of a busy junction at Bank in central London.
They joined climate change activists from Extinction Rebellion who have been obstructing five roads since 7am.
The 77-year-old, who was wearing a white skullcap branded with the black Extinction Rebellion logo, said: ‘I see it as my religious and moral duty to stand up for what I believe in, and what I care about, for my grandchildren.
‘I haven’t tried to involve the synagogue, because if you are asking for permission, you might not get it. I think it’s much more important to do what I’m doing, and they can approve or not approve at a later date.’
Mr Newman, who is also the adviser to the International Secretariat of the United Nations’ Earth Charter, a set of 16 principles for a sustainable global society, said he has been involved with global environmental movements for around 50 years.
Rabbi Jeffrey Newman joins protesters blocking the road outside Mansion House in the City of London
The rabbi, carrying a lulav palm frond and etrog yellow citrus which protesters said symbolise human connection with the earth in Judaism, said: ‘This has been something that I have been involved with since the 60s.
‘I am trying to get the Jewish community engaged with these issues. XR (Extinction Rebellion) Jews is a relatively new movement. Many of the younger people, the activists, have not had anything to do with the Jewish community for a long time.
‘And for the first time, they have discovered that there is a potential for meaning within Judaism, because of its connection with issues that they really are concerned about. I think this is phenomenal.’
Protesting on the second day of Sukkot, a week-long Jewish holiday celebrating harvest, his supporters sang Jewish hymns and carried signs reading ‘conservation is a mitzvah’ (meaning ‘religious duty’).
They circled the police van where Mr Newman was taken, waving banners and shouting about how the rabbi had been arrested to passers-by.
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said they could not comment on individual arrest cases.
More than 1,400 people have already been arrested in the protests, part of an ‘international rebellion’ with action taking place in cities around the world.
Extinction Rebellion said dozens of activists are expected to appear in court this week, including trials connected with previous action in April.
Blockage: The streets around the Bank of England were blocked by groups of people doing yoga, dancing and chanting slogans
Extinction Rebellion turn their attention to London’s businesses after week targeting government and transport hubs
Activists targeted BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, in London on Monday, demanding that the world’s major financial institutions stop funding what they describe as a looming environmental catastrophe.
Extinction Rebellion, which promotes revolt against established political, economic and social structures as a way to publicise its dramatic climate message, is in the middle of two weeks of civil disobedience in London.
Its activists thronged the financial heart of London on Monday, blocking streets around locations such as the Bank of England and BlackRock.
Police attempt to remove a protester from a business headquarters this afternoon as Extinction Rebellion targeted BlackRock
Protesters demonstrate outside the BlackRock headquarters in Throgmorton Avenue in London this afternoon
Activists glued themselves to the doors of BlackRock while others staged a mock dinner party with rolled-up banknotes on their plates, a Reuters reporter said.
‘The City of London is a preeminent nexus of power in the global system that is killing our world,’ said Carolina Rosa, spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion.
There was no immediate comment from BlackRock.
Extinction Rebellion wants non-violent civil disobedience to force governments to cut carbon emissions and avert a climate crisis it says will bring starvation and social collapse.
Critics say the group is proposing what amounts to the overthrow of capitalism without any clear idea of what would replace it, and that the world’s energy needs cannot be met without fossil fuels.