Rail services in the east of London have been disrupted by three separate incidents involving the ongoing Extinction Rebellion protest, British Transport Police said in a statement on Thursday.
“Arrests have already been made and officers are working to quickly resume services,” the statement said, singling out incidents at Shadwell, Stratford and Canning Town, near London's Canary Wharf financial district.
At this time we have three separate incidents involving #ExtinctionRebellion protest action at Stratford, Canning Town and Shadwell.
— British Transport Police (@BTP) October 17, 2019
Arrests have already been made and officers are working to quickly resume services.
Please check with @TfL before travelling. Updates to follow. pic.twitter.com/fB0sTP7O4v
The arrests came after Extinction Rebellion activists blocked a major intersection in London’s financial district earlier this week as the movement signalled its readiness to "disrupt the system bankrolling the environmental crisis”.
Both the DLR and Jubilee line are part suspended. I don’t have time this morning.
— MA (@mxrico_) October 17, 2019
Shadwell & Canning Town stations full of (presumably) #ExtinctionRebellion protesters. Jubilee Line is suspended. DLR only goes to West Ferry. I'm likely to have to cab it from there.Ironically, "climate change" protesters are driving ppl from mass transit to cars!#morons
— Thomas J. Quinlan (@thomas_quinlan) October 17, 2019
Shocking moment angry commuters drag two #ExtinctionRebellion protestors off the top of a train in Canning Town and attack them. pic.twitter.com/EZAMa9tT2t
— Mahatir Pasha (@mahatir_pasha) October 17, 2019
Since last week, Extinction Rebellion activists have been blocking streets and bridges in major cities of the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany, and others by lying down or sitting, often in tents, in order to disrupt traffic.
Earlier, Sky News reported that Princess Marie-Esmeralda of Belgium had been arrested in London during climate change demonstrations.
Belgium's Princess Esmeralda arrested in London and taken to Camden police station: "The system does not work. It must be changed". Well, you know you're on to something when royalty gets themselves arrested 👸👑✨#ExtinctionRebellion #ExtinctionRebellionlondon #ClimateEmergency pic.twitter.com/RCcW75Rlek
— XRBrighton (⧖) (@XRBrighton) October 12, 2019
Shortly after, a document showing that the princess was released from Camden police station "without charge" appeared online on Twitter
In recent months, the Extinction Rebellion movement has been actively staging demonstrations trying to bring the public's attention to global warming, which they call a "climate emergency".
Established in the UK in May 2018, "Extinction Rebellion" is an environmental pressure group which uses civil disobedience to pressure governments to act more diligently to tackle climate change and environmental protection, with the declared long-term objective of completely eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.
