Extinction Rebellion climate activists vow to ‘shut down’ London’s Westminster in two weeks of protests

Environmental activists from around Britain are set to swoop on Westminster on Monday morning in an attempt to “shut down” the heart of government with two weeks of disruptive protests.

Extinction Rebellion (XR) said its members are planning to blockade “every single road” into the central London district and plan to maintain the protests for at least 14 days, or until their demands are met.

Each site will be taken by groups of activists from different regions of the UK or with different political priorities. Activists will stop traffic from around 9am onwards at 12 different sites around parliament, including Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards Parade, the Mall, Victoria Street, and Westminster and Vauxhall bridges, among others.

Throughout the week activists plan to take action around Westminster at government departments, to blockade Smithfield market, then later move on to London City airport, where they intend to stage a three-day protest.

However, even senior members of XR say they do not know the full scale or extent of intended protests as many are being organised autonomously. Independent solidarity actions under the banner of international XR groups are also expected in about 60 cities around the world.

XR UK claims to have recruited five times as many activists as during the last major protests in April, when more than 1,100 were arrested at blockades of four major London sites that lasted about a week.