'Someone needs to take control': Furious Londoners demand tougher

Hundreds of arrested eco-activists are being released without charge to rejoin protests bringing London to a standstill, as furious business leaders blasted the Met and the Mayor demanding someone ‘take control’.

The demonstrations which have inconvenienced 500,000 people and cost businesses £12 million since Monday, brought further chaos to the capital’s today as the protesters superglued themselves to tube trains.

Despite the police having issued a public order notice 48 hours ago demanding protesters on Waterloo Bridge disperse and regroup at their Marble Arch protest site, the bridge remains closed to traffic in both directions as the protesters there continue to be arrested.

Londoners today blasted demonstrators for ‘making things worse’ by targeting public transport but the Mayor thanked them for being ‘extremely co-operative’.ADVERTISING

After 340 arrests, Scotland Yard could not confirm whether anyone had been charged with criminal offences and campaigners said London’s police cells are full and ‘operating on a one-in, one-out capacity’, with those arrested being released without charge and rejoining the protests.

But on Wednesday evening in a massive show of force hundreds of Met Police officers marched into Parliament square to tell demonstrators they had ten minutes to get to Marble Arch or face immediate arrest.

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At around 7pm on Wednesday evening police moved in to Parliament Square in a massive show of force to move protesters on

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The same legal mechanism used to authorise arrests on Waterloo Bridge and Oxford Circus – a condition under Section 14 of the Public Order Act – was issued for Parliament Square and demonstrators were given ten minutes to decamp to Marble Arch or face arrest

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Police have started moving on protestors in Parliament Square at the end of the third day of demonstrations

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After more than 340 arrests so far since Monday, police moved into Parliament Square in large numbers after the Section 14 was issued

But despite outcry from commuters, businesses, and Londoners, and police bans on assembling on Waterloo Bridge or Oxford Circus, a boat continues to block Oxford Circus, activists dance on Waterloo Bridge and rows of tents cover key routes through the capital.

Today police shut down Transport for London’s public wifi to stop activists co-ordinating protests underground, but Extinction Rebellion protesters still clambered on Docklands Light Railway carriages overground at Canary Wharf.

Protesters boasted of keeping hold of their four strongholds of Parliament Square, Waterloo Bridge, Marble Arch and Oxford Circus where they have continued to gather all day. Some 340 have now been arrested in three days.

With yoga, singing and flags waving on Waterloo Bridge, some observers likened the scenes to the Glastonbury Festival, with one saying: ‘So surreal. Like Glastonbury, but in the middle of one of London’s busiest bridges.’

The protests have led to road closures and gridlock, with 55 bus routes closed as people use taxis for longer journeys to get around the chaos. West End retailers are estimated to have lost £12million in sales in two days.

Some observers pointed out that protesters disrupting the trains would ‘make more people use taxis = worse for environment’ while others said they would make ‘issues in London worse by bringing cars to a standstill’.

But on LBC Radio this afternoon Mayor Sadiq Khan told host James O’Brien: ‘Some of those organising over the last two or three days have been extremely co-operative with the authorities and I want to thank them for doing so.

‘My message to them is please continue to cooperate with the authorities, but please, bear in mind, that you don’t want to inadvertently cause damage to your cause by putting people off because of the way you’re protesting.

‘Also you don’t want to inadvertently drive people to use minicabs because they can’t use public transport because you’ve closed off the tube or routes have been closed down because of the work you’re doing.’