Climate protestors block the Mall leading to Buckingham Palace, rear, central London, October 7, 2019. Activists with the Extinction Rebellion movement blocked major roads in London, Berlin and Amsterdam on Monday at the beginning of what was billed as a wide-ranging series of protests demanding new climate policies. (Photo: AP) 

Protesters have doused New York City’s famous charging bull statue with fake blood as part of a protest against climate change.

The group Extinction Rebellion staged the protest Monday at the bull statue near Wall Street, at the foot of Broadway. One protester waving a green flag climbed on top of the bull.

The group is holding disruptive peaceful civil disobedience protests in cities around the world to pressure governments to do more about climate change

4:40 p.m.

Hundreds of activists with the Extinction Rebellion climate protest movement are blocking a central square in Paris. Some of the protesters have locked arms and chained themselves together, refusing to move. Others are sitting down on the ground.

Monday’s action by the group also known as XR comes as part of a series of protests in cities around Europe to demand urgent action against climate change.

The Paris event brought the area around Chatelet to a standstill.

4:20 p.m.

Dutch police say they have detained about 90 demonstrators who were blocking a busy Amsterdam street as part of a climate protest by the Extinction Rebellion group.

Police said in a tweet Monday afternoon that the protesters were detained near the Dutch capital’s Rijksmuseum, where the blockade has been hindering traffic since early morning.

The demonstration has been peaceful, although singing activists linked arms and lay on the ground to hinder police efforts to remove them from the road.

Similar climate protests are happening in Berlin, Madrid, London and other European cities.

2:15 p.m.

London Police say some 135 climate activists have been arrested as the Extinction Rebellion group attempts to draw attention to global warming.

Demonstrators playing steel drums marched through central London on Monday as they kicked off two weeks of activities designed to disrupt the city.

The arrests come as protesters in cities across Europe blocked roads ahead of what is being described as widespread demonstrations.

Extinction Rebellion says protesters were arrested as they blocked Victoria Embankment outside the Ministry of Defense.

Among those arrested was 81-year-old Sarah Lasenby, a retired social worker from Oxford.

She says “it is imperative the government should take serious actions and put pressure on other states and global powers to radically reduce the use of fossil fuels.”

1:40 p.m.

Climate activists have blocked roads and staged a sit-in in Madrid as they joined a global wave of actions by the Extinction Rebellion movement to draw attention on failed environmental policies.

A few dozen activists briefly chained themselves to each other and to an elevated road over a major artery in the Spanish capital at rush hour on Monday morning.

The National Police in Madrid says 33 activists have been taken to their premises and three have been arrested for resisting orders by anti-riot officers.

A few hundred other protesters have camped out in 40 tents at the gates of the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition in Madrid.

Extinction Rebellion wants to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2025.

___

11:40 a.m.

London Police say they’ve arrested 21 climate change activists over the past few days as the Extinction Rebellion group attempts to draw attention to global warming.

The capital’s Metropolitan Police say the arrests on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance took place Saturday and Sunday.

The arrests come as protesters in Berlin and Amsterdam blocked roads ahead of what is being described as widespread demonstrations. Further protests are taking place Monday in London.

The group’s protesters have succeeded before in disrupting life in London in hopes of gaining attention to their cause.

In April, members of the group blocked several London roads and bridges during 10 days of action designed to alert the public and politicians to the “climate emergency.”

9:55 a.m.

Activists are blocking a major road in Amsterdam as they call for the Dutch government to do more to tackle climate change.

Hundreds of demonstrators from the Extinction Rebellion group blocked the road and set up tents early Monday.

Police say they arrested some of the protesters on the road outside the Rijksmuseum, one of the city’s most popular tourist draws.

The demonstration went ahead despite the city banning activists from gathering on the road. The demonstrators ignored police calls for them to move to a nearby square.

Protester Elle van Zeeland told Dutch broadcaster NOS that the group is “staying here until the government meets its obligations.”

8:35 a.m.

Climate activists with the Extinction Rebellion movement have blocked a central junction in Berlin at the beginning of what is billed as a wide-ranging series of protests for new climate policies.

Around 1,000 people blocked the Grosser Stern, a traffic circle in the middle of the German capital’s Tiergarten park dominated by the landmark Victory Column, in a protest that started in the early hours of Monday.

Members of Extinction Rebellion have also set up a camp outside Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office ahead of what it called an “international rebellion” starting Monday. It says protests are planned in 60 cities worldwide.

Founded in Britain last year, the movement, also known as XR, now has chapters in some 50 countries.