Outnumbered! Police surround protesters on last day of eco demo
ECO-WARRIORS defied a ban on protests in central London yesterday – only to find themselves outnumbered by police at one key gathering.
Extinction Rebellion protesters tried to block off Oxford Street by putting up wooden structures and climbing them but officers used a cherry picker to remove them.
Activists’ call for a show of strength fell flat as they tried to close the capital’s prime shopping street, having posted online pleas for others to join them.
The small group of demonstrators was quickly encircled by dozens of officers who swiftly reopened roads.
Meanwhile, tree surgeon Ben Atkinson, 43, sparked a security scare in the grounds of Parliament when he climbed scaffolding surrounding Big Ben – despite tighter security since the 2017 Westminster terror attack.
Earlier, the activist, from Cumbria, posted pictures showing himself in a blond Boris Johnson wig while standing yards from the landmark.
After climbing the scaffold, he hung a banner reading ‘No pride on a Dead Planet’ and another calling for a citizens’ assembly to tackle climate issues.
In an online message to the Prime Minister, he wrote: ‘Now you’ve got a chance to do something that could last for centuries. A legacy of being the man that turned it all around.’ He was later arrested.
Hundreds marked the last day in a fortnight of climate change protests with a ‘red hand march’ in Westminster. Campaigners used washable paint to make handprints on buildings, including the Treasury.
Police arrested an activist for spraypainting a memorial to First Wold War hero Field Marshall Earl Haig.