Protestors lie on the bridge to stop the movement of traffic.

A climate change pressure group severely disrupted rush-hour traffic at London Bridge by blocking motorists seven minutes at a time from 7:30AM until 16:00PM on November 21 and 22, 2018.

The Extinction Rebellion members stood and lied down on bridges and only gave two-minute breaks for traffic to go past before blocking the bridges again.

They say: “[It] is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by its government.”

The protest had a detrimental effect on people moving through the area at the height of rush hour traffic.

Despite warnings from the MET police not to travel by car or motorbike, the protest successfully disrupted commuters and motorists on the morning of November 21. This sparked retaliation and criticism from many notable individuals.

Former chairman of the Conservative party, Lord Norman Tebbit, 87, was among these individuals as he slowly drove into a female protestor with his car during the protest on November 21.

The police have warned motorists not to travel by car or motorbike.

This has sparked the planning for Rebellion part two on Saturday November 24 which will be used to mourn the lives lost through environmental damage. They are calling for participants to attend the protest in Parliament Square in funeral dress as they say approximately 200 species a day become extinct as a result of climate change.

Protestors will be bringing funeral wreaths with flowers and black and white images of extinct animals to represent those that do not have the power to speak.

The activists also talk about the possibility of being arrested by the police on the day:

“If people are arrested on the day, you will hear bells ringing.  Please pause, turn to watch and honour those that are being taken, in silen[ce.]”

The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned there is 12 years to keep climate change to a maximum of 1.5C increase in temperature, otherwise there will be “catastrophic breakdown”. Extinction Rebellion say that it is their mission to hold the government accountable and force them to address the reality of our “economic emergency”.

These protests are seeing widespread support. Climate change activists have triggered an epidemic of sit-down protests around the UK with their Rebellion Days originating at London Bridge.

 They will be joined on November 24 with protests in the Scottish Parliament, “Funeral for the Future” at Sheffield cathedral, banners in Bangor and direct action in Manchester. Berlin will also be joining in with a solidarity event.