Police on Wednesday night appeared to be moving in strength to contain the thousands of environmental protesters who have been blocking key London thoroughfares since Monday. Dozens of officers moved into Parliament Square in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament after the commuter rush had died down at around 7 pm. The demonstrations by Extinction Rebellion, which wants the government to declare a climate emergency, have blocked Oxford Circus and Marble Arch, two prominent junctions in London ‘s West End shopping district, in addition to Waterloo Bridge and Parliament Square. In what appeared to be the largest orchestrated maneuver from the combined forces of the Metropolitan and City of London police yet, protesters were removed one by one as they lay flat in the middle of the road in Westminster.
Police taped off the road from commuters on the south side of the Houses of Parliament as a trail of over 100 police officers increased their efforts to remove demonstrators. Sam Knights, 22, from London, an organizer for Extinction Rebellion said: “We thought that police were concentrating their efforts on other areas, so we left Westminster thin on the ground. “There is an incredible spirit here. Our energy cannot be contained. We will be on the street day after day.”
As time wore on, more protesters arrived from other Extinction Rebellion sites, and the banging of drums got louder as did cries of “Climate justice now” as both police and protesters maneuvered around the square The Met said that as of 5 pm on Wednesday a total of 340 arrests had been made in the capital since Monday. A statement said the force had imposed conditions on several protest sites and was trying to limit the demonstrations to Marble Arch due to the disruption to local communities.