A four-day protest by up to 50,000 eco-warriors began in central London on Friday as a senior Scotland Yard officer warned that protesters who blocked roads would be swiftly arrested.
Demonstrators gathered this morning outside the Home Office and other Government departments in Marsham Street at the start of the “Big One” campaign. They banged drums and held signs demanding action to tackle climate change, before moving on to Parliament Square.
On Sunday the London Marathon is being held and there are fears the race could be disrupted by activists. Protest organisers Extinction Rebellion have been in talks with race director Hugh Brasher to ensure minimal disruption but there are concerns other groups might take action.
Just Stop Oil, a separate group, refused to rule out targeting other sporting events after invading the world snooker championships in Sheffield this week and showering a table at the Crucible with orange powder.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said it would be “terrible” for protesters to disrupt the marathon “to make a political point” and they would face “very robust” action.
He told LBC Radio: “First of all, we do live in a free country and it’s right that people can protest. But it’s also important that people don’t disrupt other people going about their normal lives.
“I think it would be terrible for anybody to disrupt the marathon. Thousands of people will have trained for a whole year or more for this, many of them raising money for charity.”
A spokesperson for XR said: “We’re expecting around 40,000 to 50,000 people to be outside Parliament over the weekend.”
The Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said “all eyes will be on London” as it hosts the marathon, as well as two FA Cup semi-finals and several other football matches which require a large police presence.
He urged angry motorists and Londoners facing serious disruption not to take matters into their own hands, and added: “Alongside a significant policing response, we will be using specialist officers to respond to any protesters who lock or glue themselves to street furniture or purpose-built structures. Where protest crosses the line into criminality, we will respond quickly and remove and arrest activists as appropriate and return things to normal as soon as possible.”
London Marathon director Mr Brasher previously said his talks with XR had prompted the agreement that “they will be uniquely asking all their participants to help guard the London Marathon”.
He said: “I trust Extinction Rebellion, they have been very clear on what they are doing and why. I hope Just Stop Oil and the other organisations listen to what we are saying.”
The environmental group’s spokeswoman said that while its stewards will protect runners from the protest, “the whole thing has slightly been taken out of context”.
She added: “We’ve been in close collaboration with the London Marathon since last year so that our protest can co-exist with it. We met them a couple of days ago and said we were going to protect people from the protest, and I think the media has taken that to mean we’re going to protect the race from other groups protesting. Really what we meant was that we have stewards who will be helping to keep the area safe.”
She added that all the organisations taking part in the protest have assured XR they will not disrupt the marathon.
