Extinction Rebellion protesters stop traffic in City of London

Up to 400 Extinction Rebellion activists have been stopping traffic in moving protests across the City of London to highlight the role of the finance industry in fuelling climate change.

Protesters are periodically forming human blockades across roads in the capital’s financial hub, occupying the street and halting traffic for seven minutes before allowing vehicles to pass, and then repeating the action.

Traffic on Fleet Street was brought to a standstill for several hours after activists obstructed the road outside Goldman Sachs. A dozen protesters lay on the floor and connected their arms with tubes, blocking up to 30 buses and several cars as they called on the financial sector to divest from the fossil fuel industry.

One of the activists on the ground was Cleo Peterson, 33, who seemed unfazed when a police officer told her she was going to be arrested, saying: “I want it on my record as a human being.”

Other groups targeted junctions outside Bank station, King William Street, near Rothschild & Co, and Fleet Street. One protester held up a sign that read “Sorry for the delay, we won’t be long”, as about 40 people blocked Upper Thames Street, near London Bridge.

Climate change activists demonstrate as they block roads around the Bank of England in Threadneedle Street.Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty

Jane Goodland, 29, a maths teacher from Cambridge, said the so-called swarming protests allow small groups of people to cause disruption, while attempting to have engaging conversations with drivers to increase awareness of their cause. “We’ve targeted the financial sector because we believe the economic system in this country is part of the problem,” she said.

Augusta Hull, 48, a massage therapist from north London, said: “It’s my first time swarming, but I’m out here because we have a climate and ecological crisis. I’ve been with Extinction Rebellion all week and have been inspired by the way they do things, the non-violence, the support of protesters when they’re being arrested, and the focus on love of the planet.”

The environmental group said it was the last day of action before choosing to end its campaign of peaceful mass civil disobedience, following actions that led to hundreds of people being arrested and thousands of police officers deployed to sites occupied by the group for more than a week.

Earlier on Thursday, climate change activists glued themselves to the entrances of the London Stock Exchange wearing LED signs saying “Climate emergency”, “Tell the truth” and “You can’t eat money”.

Protesters glue their hands to the ground outside the London Stock Exchange building.Photograph: Simon Dawson/Reuters

Simultaneously, protesters in east London climbed on top of a train at Canary Wharf holding signs including “business as usual = death”, in what the group said was a reference to “the financial sector’s role in our collective suicide”.

Protesters at both sites were later removed by police and five people were arrested at Canary Wharf.

Among the protesters at Canary Wharf was Phil Kingston, an 83-year-old grandfather who has been involved in multiple direct action protests. One of the first members of Extinction Rebellion, he gained notoriety after chaining himself to a pipe in Oxford Circus.

“Like all parents and grandparents, I want a future,” he said. He expressed his concern over the impact of climate change on the poorest people, arguing they would be most affected by ecological collapse. “Everything is going to have to shift,” he added, eating a sandwich on top of the train.

Diana Warner, 60, a retired GP, had superglued herself to the train. “I’ve done it because, what else can I do? I want to speak up for all of our children. I also want to speak up for those who are losing their land now, and those who aren’t able to get enough food,” she said.

Police detached Warner from the train and arrested her. When asked whether she was scared of being put in remand for a long period of time, Warner said no. “It made it more necessary to be here. We are part of them and they are part of us. We all need to survive. Some people can see it, understand it, and feel with compassion that we need to prevent more death and catastrophe, but there are many who don’t.”

There were mixed responses from the public towards the demonstrations. One female bus driver, who did not want to be named, said she had been waiting for an hour for the protesters to move. “They have the right to protest, but it’s not fair for the public who want to go to work. They made their point and it’s been over a week. We all care about climate change, but people have to get to work,” she said.

Grant, a support services assistant, said: “Climate change is a bigger issue than a lot of politicians are making out and I think something does need to be done about it. Most of the people hanging around here do have kids they need to leave the world to, yet they’re not really considering it.”

The protest follows similar action last Wednesday in which Cathy Eastburn, 51, from south London, Mark Ovland, 35, from Somerton in Somerset, and Luke Watson, 29, from Manuden in Essex, were remanded in custody until their trial in May, after they were charged with obstructing trains or carriages on the railway by an unlawful act, contrary to section 36 of the Malicious Damage Act 1861.

On Wednesday, the London protesters agreed to remove blockades and campsites at Marble Arch and Parliament Square.

The group, which has been backed by senior academics, politicians and scientists, said in a statement that it would leave its remaining blockades on Thursday, but added: “The world has changed … A space for truth-telling has been opened up.

London protest map

“Now it is time to bring this telling of the truth to communities around London, the regions and nations of the UK, and internationally. In this age of misinformation, there is power in telling the truth.”

The group said it would like to “thank Londoners for opening their hearts and demonstrating their willingness to act on that truth”.

The statement added: “We know we have disrupted your lives. We do not do this lightly. We only do this because this is an emergency.”

The activists said protesters had “taken to the streets and raised the alarm” in more than 80 cities in 33 countries. “People are talking about the climate and ecological emergency in ways that we never imagined,” they said.

The group said it would work to build up a resilient movement to force politicians to address the climate crisis.

The move came as it emerged the environment secretary, Michael Gove, had agreed to the meet representatives of the group. A spokesperson for XR said this was “totally unconnected” to its decision to end the current phase of the protests, adding that the meeting was under consideration.

“It may or may not go ahead, depending on the details of how public it is and who will be attending,” they said.

Support for Extinction Rebellion has quadrupled in the past nine days as public concern about the scale of the ecological crisis grows. Since the protests began last Monday, 40,000 new backers or volunteers have offered support to the group. In the same period, it has raised almost £200,000 – mostly in small donations of between £10 and £50 – making a total of £365,000 since January.