Extinction Rebellion protests: More than 1,000 arrests in mass climate change actions across London

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Jacob Jarvis10 October 2019
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More than 1,000 activists have been arrested in the latest bout of mass Extinction Rebellion protests across London.

The group has held major actions throughout the capital since Monday and today attempted to "shut down" City Airport.

One protester, named by the group as Paralympian James Brown, climbed atop a plane at the busy hub, as activists continued their bid to push for further action to tackle climate change.

Scotland Yard has now said more than 1,000 people have been arrested and gave the Standard a figure of 1,112 at 9.45pm.

A police spokesman said earlier that the arrests at the airport include one person on a flight on the runway and there had been at least 50 arrests there.

Earlier, the UK's most senior police officer branded the actions of a protester who climbed on top of a plane as "reckless, stupid and dangerous".

Extinction Rebellion London City Airport Protest: October 2019

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Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said: "My early understanding is somebody has been arrested after they ... presumably bought a ticket, went through security perfectly normally, went up the steps of a plane and hurled themselves on top of a plane.

"Actually, that was a reckless, stupid and dangerous thing to do for all concerned. But I think you can see that is quite a hard thing to predict or stop from happening.

"We will do a full review of the security there, of course we will.

"These protesters have shown they are determined to go where they can, when they can, occupy what they can and disrupt whoever they can, frankly."

Extinction Rebellion has since said it is "highly unlikely" they will continue mass action at City Airport tomorrow.

It comes after protesters were told they must go to Trafalgar Square or face arrest should they be involved in actions elsewhere.

Extinction Rebellion in the UK is calling on the Government to:

  • Declare a climate and ecological emergency.
  • Act immediately to halt wildlife loss and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2025.
  • Create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens' Assembly on climate and ecological justice.

Roads around Parliament and Whitehall remained closed to traffic apart from cyclists amid a heavy police presence, with protesters camped in Trafalgar Square and nearby St James's Park.

During the group's last major London protests in April there were around 1,130 arrests.

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