Extinction Rebellion protest: Eco warriors swarm Square Mile on final day of demonstrations

Climate change activists glued themselves to the London Stock Exchange and climbed onto the roof of a train today on the final day of their protests in London.

Extinction Rebellion demonstrators “swarmed” into the Square Mile as part of a plan to cause roadblocks targeting big businesses and banking.

Two men and five women dressed in black suits, red ties and visors glued themselves in a chain to a wall and to each other at the Stock Exchange at about 6.45am.

They wore LED signs reading “climate emergency”, “tell the truth” and “you can’t eat money”.

Extinction Rebellion at the London Stock Exchange - In pictures

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In Canary Wharf, five demonstrators climbed onto a DLR train, holding signs saying “business as usual = death” and “don’t jail the canaries”, while another woman glued herself to a different train.

Demonstrators stand on top of a DLR train at Canary Wharf station on Thursday
Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Financial workers arrived at the Stock Exchange to learn they could not enter. One said: “It’s annoying. I want to earn a living and I need to make sure that I do. I need to live on the planet too.”

A group of protesters sitting with their hands glued to the floor also blocked the rear entrance to the building.

Police try to remove protesters who blocked a road in the City of London 
AP

They were all being removed by officers and taken to police vans nearby.

The London Stock Exchange said the markets remained open as normal.

British Transport Police officers used ropes, harnesses and ladders to take down the protesters who climbed on the train.

Police take away protester Phil Kingston, 83, following the demonstration
Dylan Martinez/Reuters

The activists, including a mother-of-three, a grandfather and a cobbler who said they were members of a group called Christian Climate Action, were arrested on suspicion of obstructing the railway.

At a rally for activists at Southwark Cathedral, Extinction Rebellion organiser Robin Boardman said protesters should show “tough love” to the public on the final day of disruption. A printed “swarming” schedule handed out to activists showed the group planned block a number of major roads, including Fleet Street, Bishopsgate, Upper Thames Street, Bank station and the Tower of London in the morning rush hour.

At Mansion House Street in the shadow of the Royal Exchange, protesters blocked the road.

One demonstrator with a guitar led the group in renditions of the Beatles’ Can’t Buy Me Love and All You Need Is Love, while another protester in a wheelchair read a book in the middle of the road. The action comes on the day the movement is due to end blockades at Parliament Square and Marble Arch.

They have been urging the Government to declare a climate emergency to avoid what it calls the “sixth mass extinction” of species on Earth.

The group said there would be a “closing ceremony” at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park at 5pm.

More than 1,000 people have been arrested during the protests, which started on April 15, and more than 10,000 police officers have been deployed.

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