Climate protestor 'dragged' from Michelin star restaurant after trying to 'approach David Attenborough'

Photos have emerged of the moment police officers dragged a climate protestor from a restaurant after she tried to deliver a letter to Sir David Attenborough while he was dining there.

Animal Rebellion protestor Emma Smart, 45, was arrested on Thursday evening after an incident at the Michelin-starred Catch At The Old Fish Market restaurant in Weymouth, Dorset.

Dorset Police said Smart was arrested after allegedly causing a disturbance and refusing to comply with officers when they asked her to leave.

Protest group Animal Rebellion, who shared images of her being removed from the restaurant by police at 8.45pm, said the 45-year-old had approached a table where Attenborough was dining in an attempt to deliver a letter to him.

The incident happened two days before members of Animal Rebellion occupied Gordon Ramsay's three-star Michelin eatery Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London's Chelsea on Saturday evening to protest at the "perfect inequality" of such venues.

Smart, an ecologist from Weymouth, said she wanted a five-minute conversation with Attenborough about the need to address climate change and urged him to "speak up" for people imprisoned for environmental protest.

She said in a statement: "The Catch is a symbol of excess and inequality in today’s world, Weymouth has average wages amongst the lowest in the UK and is at huge risk of sea level rises.

"Yet this restaurant still continues business as usual amongst the worst cost-of-living crisis many will ever experience.

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"We don't need another documentary series showing us that we are losing, some 150 species going extinct globally every single day. What we need is action.

"Sir David is in a unique position to tell the truth about the biodiversity crisis. He has the chance to leave a legacy of love, care, and of being the forerunner of a better world."

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Smart was previously imprisoned at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey over an Insulate Britain climate protest, during which time she was moved to the hospital wing after undertaking a hunger strike.

Her letter to the climate documentary presenter read: "Dear David, I still want to meet you! I’m from Weymouth – my community will be devastated in the climate crisis.

"Today is the one year anniversary that I went to prison for peacefully protesting government inaction.

"There are 35 ordinary people in prison right now for environmental protest. Please speak up for them. For all life on earth.

"I’m a scientist. A biologist. Please meet with me – just five min. Love and hope, Emma Smart."

Her husband Andy Smart added: "Most of Weymouth will be uninsurable in the coming years due to flood risk.

"Ordinary people here can’t just uproot their entire lives, yet businesses like The Catch are continuing to profit from the destruction of our oceans and simply driving the divide between the 1% and the 99%."

Smart has been charged with failing to comply with a Section 35 direction and is due to appear at Weymouth Magistrates’ Court on 21 December.