Latest: More than 200 arrests at London climate change protests

More than 200 people have been arrested during a second day of climate protests which have caused serious disruption in London.

Extinction Rebellion demonstrations have been taking place at Parliament Square, Waterloo Bridge, Oxford Circus and Marble Arch.

The Metropolitan Police said the protests were causing serious disruption to public transport and local businesses, with 55 bus routes closed and 500,000 people affected.

Motorists faced gridlocked traffic on a number of alternative routes, such as Westminster Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge.

At about 5.45pm, police said 209 people had been arrested in connection with the demonstrations.

Five people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage following disruption outside commercial premises in Lambeth on Monday and have since been released under investigation.

The other 204 people were were arrested on Waterloo Bridge on Monday night and throughout Tuesday for Public Order Act offences, obstructing a highway and one for obstructing police.

The Met said it had imposed a 24-hour condition on Waterloo Bridge on Monday evening telling protesters to continue any demonstrations in the Marble Arch area.

The same condition was then imposed in the Oxford Circus area at 4.45pm on Tuesday

The force said: “We are taking positive action against those who are choosing to ignore this condition and are continuing to demonstrate in other areas across London.

“Officers are out on the ground engaging with protesters and local communities to ensure proportionate policing plans are in place.

“There is a need to ensure the right balance is struck between allowing the right to peaceful protest, while disruption to communities is kept to a minimum.”

The Met warned that demonstrations are expected to continue “throughout the coming weeks”.

Dozens of protesters were dragged away from Waterloo Bridge by police at around 1pm on Tuesday.

As a large group of officers arrived to remove the campaigners, they were met with chants of? “We are peaceful, what about you?”

There were loud cheers, the ringing of bells, and the blowing of whistles as people were quickly arrested and taken to police vans.

Campaigners crowded and rallied around a man who was screaming “This is a fascist police state”, as he was confronted by officers.

Many protesters remained on the bridge, chanting for climate justice and refusing to move.

Extinction Rebellion said it aimed to cause more than £6,000 of damage so activists could be tried by a jury in Crown Court.

The campaign group described those arrested as “brave rebels”.

Four activists chained and glued themselves underneath a lorry parked on Waterloo Bridge, where they slept on Monday night.

The campaigners had blankets and sleeping bags, and declared they will stay there as long as possible.

Ben Moss, 42, from Islington, north London, glued himself to the bars of the lorry.

He said: “We’re in an extreme situation, we have to take action. This is my personal action to the moral issue of the climate crisis and ecological collapse.

“I’m doing this because I want the Government to do something.

“I’ve got a week off work – if more is necessary I can make my excuses. I’m a director of a company, I work at a co-operative, but not everyone can come and do this.”

A Transport for London spokesman said: “There are demonstrations taking place across London which are causing disruption to some bus services and on the road network.

“The safety of our customers and staff is our number one priority and we’re working closely with the police to manage the impact on London’s transport network.

“We would encourage people to check their journeys before they travel.”

Who are Extinction Rebellion?

– What are its methods?

XR uses what is calls “non-violent civil disobedience” as the world has “run out of the luxury of time to react incrementally”.

Examples include blocking busy roads and bridges, spray-painting government buildings and activists chaining and gluing themselves to buildings including the gates of Buckingham Palace.

A colourful catwalk show took over London’s busy Oxford Circus junction earlier this month to highlight the environmental impact of the fashion industry.

Before that, semi-naked activists glued themselves to windows in the public gallery of the House of Commons during a Brexit debate.

On Monday, protesters vandalised Shell’s headquarters, gluing themselves to windows and smashing glass revolving doors in a bid to cause more than £6,000 of damage – to enable them to have a jury trial in Crown Court.

A day later, around two dozen protesters occupied the International Criminal Court in the Hague, in the Netherlands, in a bid to have ecocide recognised as an international crime, the group said.

XR says it wants ecocide, the deliberate destruction of the natural environment, to be listed alongside crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and crimes of aggression.

– How did it build momentum?

In its first protest on October 31 last year, the group assembled a protest on Parliament Square in London, expecting a “couple of hundred people” – before 1,500 showed up.

The group said: “The energy was contagious! The next few weeks were a whirlwind.

“Six thousand of us converged on London to peacefully block five major bridges across the Thames.”

Chapters now exist in dozens of countries including the US, the Solomon Islands, Australia, Spain, South Africa and India, it said.

On April 15 protests in London began, with campaigners saying they will bring the capital to a standstill for up to two weeks.

Activists in at least 80 cities in more than 33 countries will hold similar demonstrations on environmental issues, campaigners said.