Arrests grow in climate protest

NEARLY 300 people have been arrested in ongoing climate change protests in London that brought parts of the British capital to a standstill.

Demonstrators began blocking off a bridge and major central road junctions on Monday at the start of a civil disobedience campaign that also saw action in other parts of Europe.

The protests were organised by the campaign group Extinction Rebellion, which was established last year in Britain by academics and has become one of the world’s fastestgrowing environmental movements.

London’s Metropolitan Police said that by Tuesday evening, 290 arrests had been made.

“We expect demonstrations to continue throughout the coming weeks,” the police statement said.

The arrest figure includes three men and two women who were detained at the UK offices of energy giant Royal Dutch Shell on suspicion of criminal damage.

Campaigners daubed graffiti and smashed a window at the Shell Centre building. The majority arrested were seized for breaching public order laws and obstructing a highway.

Picture: AFP British police officers carry an activist as they remove them from Waterloo Bridge on the second day of an environmental protest by the Extinction Rebellion group in London.