We’re on day three of Extinction Rebellion‘s latest London occupation, and it’s all got a bit messy.
Over 600 arrests have been made after police spent yesterday cutting into protesters’ tents, while this morning they kettled a giant pink octopus. Following yesterday’s mass arrests – the result of a Section 14 order that allows police to handcuff anyone not demonstrating at Trafalgar Square or the pedestrianised area around Nelson’s Column – the protest camp outside Downing Street in particular is looking a lot smaller.
Videos by VICE
Many XR activists are still holding on, but the results of the extra powers police were given this time around are beginning to show. For context, within three days officers have already made over half as many arrests as the 1,100 made throughout the group’s entire April protest.
To top off a fairly negative couple of days, this morning Piers Morgan had XR coordinator Skeena Rathor on Good Morning Britain and, in true Piers Morgan fashion, ever the professional, didn’t let her get a word in.
Yesterday, photographer Chris Bethell was in central London, watching all of the above unfold.
