Nearly 300 arrested during first day of disruption in London related to climate change

LONDON/CANBERRA (XINHUA, DPA) - Nearly 300 people were arrested on Monday (Oct 7) in central London during the first day of mass protests by the Extinction Rebellion group which demands much more urgent action against climate change.

Extinction Rebellion, also known as XR, said the mass protests will go on for two weeks. The group took to the streets in the British capital on Monday morning as part of a fresh "international rebellion".

The Metropolitan Police Service said it had made 280 arrests.

Also on Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged London police to use the "full force of the law" against the group of environmental protesters.

Extinction Rebellion said that one of those arrested was 81-year-old Sarah Lasenby, a retired social worker from Oxford.

They already vowed to blockade "every single road" into Westminster in central London as part of a global push to highlight the issue of climate change.

The activists are also protesting in cities such as Berlin, Amsterdam and Sydney.

The environmental activists succeeded in closing off Lambeth bridge and the Mall and planned to shut down other key sites in central London, including Westminster Bridge, in addition to protests outside government departments.

Extinction Rebellion have said that the protests will be five times bigger than the demonstrations in April which brought parts of London to a standstill.

In Australia, climate activists demonstrating on behalf of Extinction Rebellion are pressing ahead with a week of protest stunts, with one man dangling from Brisbane's Story Bridge for the cause and several arrests reported in three cities.

Sitting on a hammock suspended over the Brisbane river for six hours on Tuesday, the bridge protester asked Queensland's State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to declare a climate emergency.

"I'm up here for my daughters. There's a climate emergency and our government hasn't taken sufficient action, really," the man said in comments livestreamed on Facebook.

The dangling protester, who claimed to be an experienced rock climber, said he was "perfectly safe". Once back on solid ground, he was seen being taken into police custody, according to footage shared on Twitter by a Brisbane Times reporter.

Some 200 protesters tried to block major intersections in Brisbane, the third-largest city in Australia and the capital of Queensland, police told reporters. At least nine people have been arrested, they said.

In Melbourne, hundreds of climate demonstrators blocked roads and tram tracks despite the rain. Extinction Rebellion said several protesters were arrested in the Victorian capital.

"I don't know that shutting the city down necessarily wins you many friends," Victoria's State Premier Daniel Andrews said, while defending their right to protest.

Protesters dressed as bees came to Sydney's Hyde Park, where police arrested several people, the AAP news agency reported.

The first day of Extinction Rebellion's week-long protests saw more than three dozen arrests in several cities across Australia on Monday.

Protesters are calling on governments to "tell the truth" about climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.