Climate Activists Defy London Police After Multiple Arrests

(Bloomberg) -- Climate protesters defied London police to block traffic across the U.K. capital for a second day on Tuesday after more than 200 were arrested for obstructing roads.

Activists from the group Extinction Rebellion blocked streets around Parliament and set up food stalls, a skateboard ramp and a stage on Waterloo Bridge, with large potted plants dotted along the crossing over the River Thames. Other protests took place at Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus and Marble Arch, according to the group’s Twitter feed.

Even as police imposed restrictions and said they’d arrested 209 people -- including five for vandalizing Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s London headquarters -- organizers said the protests would continue for two weeks. They’re calling on the government to act faster to slash fossil-fuel use and fight climate change.

TicToc by Bloomberg: Activists arrested during London climate protest

“We’ve plundered the benefits of this planet and now we must take responsibility as custodians of its future,” said Jacqueline Bliss, a 63-year-old from Devon, southwest England, who joined the protest on Waterloo Bridge dressed in a tiger costume.

Another protester, Bryn Raven, 75, said government efforts have all been sucked into dealing with Brexit and issues such as climate change have slipped down the policy agenda. She said she’d camped in a bivouac overnight in Hyde Park to stay with the protest.

“Brexit is a distraction from the real issues,” said Raven, a yoga teacher from Suffolk, eastern England. “We need a different way of living.”

Alex Armitage, a pediatrician who was at the protest on Waterloo Bridge with his young son, agreed: “The government is completely constipated with Brexit and it needs some treatment,” he said. “It is my professional duty to safeguard the health and well-being of the next generation, and we know that climate change is the biggest danger to public health.”

Blocked Roads

At the Marble Arch end of Oxford Street, activists erected more than 100 tents, blocked roads, played music and provided workshops to entertain families with young children. Disruption also remained in other parts of the capital on Tuesday afternoon. Police said 55 bus routes were closed and 500,000 people’s journeys affected as a result.

“Ongoing demonstrations are causing serious disruptions to public transport, local businesses and Londoners who wish to go about their daily business,” police said in statement. “We need to ensure we are striking the right balance between allowing the right to a peaceful protest, while ensuring disruption to communities is kept to a minimum.”

Extinction Rebellion disrupted proceedings in Parliament earlier in the month, staging a topless protest in the public gallery as lawmakers debated Brexit. On Monday, protesters filled Parliament Square, including a march of protesters in fancy dress, with others bearing a coffin, and models of skeletons of humans, rhinos and cats.

The group wants the government to declare an ecological emergency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025. It’s urging ministers to establish a citizens’ assembly to analyze climate change and come up with policy proposals that would feed into government legislation.

‘So Slow’

“People need to take action like eating less red meat, using less plastics and relying less on fossil fuels,” said Jack Edge, 24, an ambulance worker from London. “Climate change is approaching us so quickly and the way we do politics is so slow.”

Londoners by and large took the protests in their stride, though the disruption upset some. Martin Davies, a lawyer in his sixties who came across the protesters as he crossed Waterloo Bridge on his way home, said they were “nice people” and the atmosphere was “a bit like Glastonbury, which is fine, but not on Waterloo Bridge.”

“The cause is good but the means is counter-productive,” Davies said. “They’ve alienated a lot of people who would have otherwise supported them.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said while he supported taking action against climate change and had himself declared a climate emergency in the capital, he was concerned about plans by some protesters to disrupt the London Underground system on Wednesday.

“It is absolutely crucial to get more people using public transport, as well as walking and cycling, if we are to tackle this climate emergency -- and millions of Londoners depend on the Underground network to get about their daily lives in our city,” Khan said. “Targeting public transport in this way would only damage the cause.”

Members of the group handed out leaflets apologizing for the disruption and outlining their demand for a citizens’ assembly. They also carried pledge cards explaining the nonviolent principles of the protest, including bans on alcohol and illegal drugs and respect for the police.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net;Joe Easton in London at jeaston7@bloomberg.net;Lucca de Paoli in London at gdepaoli1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Stuart Biggs

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