Extinction Rebellion climate activists staged sit-down protests in central London for a second day, with dozens arrested after they blocked two bridges to demand an end to the fossil fuel economy.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Speakers’ Corner at Hyde Park on Sunday morning before marching into the city centre and “occupying” both Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges, major traffic arteries across the Thames where they prevented vehicles from crossing.
Crowds sat in the middle of the road, waving multi-coloured flags bearing the group’s “extinction” symbol and placards that read “there is no planet B” and “we want to live.”
After several hours, police cleared first Lambeth and then Vauxhall Bridge, saying 38 arrests were made in the process.
Police physically removed the last of the activists, a number of whom were taken away in police vans.
The Metropolitan Police said on Twitter on Sunday evening: “Both demonstrations within the Vauxhall Area have now concluded and the roads have reopened. As a result of today’s policing operation we have made 38 arrests.”
Earlier, campaigners spray painted red hands outside the London corporate offices of oilfield services company Schlumberger.
It came a day after some 8,000 protesters flooded the streets of London, according to Extinction Rebellion.
On the first day of mass action on Saturday, they blockaded roads around Oxford Circus and Trafalgar Square.
Extinction Rebellion has vowed to “block areas of the city for as long as possible” every day for at least a week, and on the next three weekends.
The environmental activist group plans to recruit new “rebels” and hold training in non-violent action and resistance tactics in Hyde Park in the mornings before marching into the city centre “en masse”, it said on its website.
“Our disruption will not stop until the fossil fuel economy comes to an end,” it said.
On Friday, two Extinction Rebellion protesters shut down Tower Bridge during the morning rush hour by abseiling off the sides of the landmark.
Activists from the group, also known as XR, and Just Stop Oil have also been blocking access to oil terminals for 10 days, demanding that the government stops new oil and gas projects.
They disrupted supplies from three oil terminals in Warwickshire, Hertfordshire, and Essex on Sunday, Just Stop Oil said.
