Extinction Rebellion activists target City of London as 'climate emergency' protest enters second week

Eco-activists Extinction Rebellion have descended on the City of London in a bid to “maximum disruption” to financial institutions such as the Bank of England.

The group blocked roads and halted public transport early on Monday morning, citing what it called the banking sector’s “contribution to funding climate breakdown is driving us toward ecological collapse”.

Protesters said they were aiming to block multiple routes into the Square Mile to mark the second week of its “climate emergency” action.

Earlier this year, XR demonstrators blockaded the London Stock Exchange by gluing themselves across the entrances, while others stuck themselves together outside the Goldman Sachs HQ on Fleet Street.

Last week, Metropolitan Police chief Dame Cressida Dick wrote in the Evening Standard that the force has been “stretched” by the protests, impeding its ability to respond to other crimes.

So far, 1,309 people have been arrested in connection with the protests.

The group is taking radical action to draw attention to what it calls an “unprecedented global emergency” arguing humanity is “in the midst of a mass extinction of our own making.”

Additional reporting by PA Media

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