Today is the first day of Extinction Rebellion's two-week-long protest, with the climate protesters aiming to shut down central London. So far, according to numbers published by the Metropolitan Police, 135 Extinction Rebellion (XR) protesters have been arrested.Despite protests not being set to start until 10AM, protesters were already on Lambeth Bridge by 6AM, and 21 arrests had been made just two hours later. As well as bringing Westminster to a standstill, protesters have occupied Trafalgar Square, Embankment and Whitehall. Demonstrators have parked a hearse on the Trafalgar Square roundabout and chained themselves to the wheels and the steering wheel, and outside the Ministry of Defence others have locked themselves to a model of a Trident missile.
Police have been filmed breaking into a van and arresting a driver, as well as tackling protesters on Lambeth Bridge, after Boris Johnson urged authorities to use the "full force of the law" against XR activists. Ahead of the protest, police made several pre-emptive arrests, seizing protest equipment from a building in Kennington, south London. According to an XR spokesperson, along with nine arrests over the weekend, tents and disabled-access equipment were taken.XR protesters plan to keep demonstrating for the next 14 days, or until their demands have been met. See what the protest looks like below.
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