Six people have been arrested after Extinction Rebellion protesters – including two Olympians – climbed onto a Shell oil tanker in London as the group continues to bring chaos to the capital.
Gold medal-winning slalom canoeist Etienne Stott and sailor Laura Baldwin glued themselves to the top of the tanker at a petrol station in Bayswater, near Paddington this morning.
The eco-mob group, who have pledged to bring chaos and huge disruption to London’s street, unfurled banners reading ‘End fossil fuels now’.
The Met said six arrests for vehicle interference had been made. It is not known if the two Olympians were among those arrested.
Met Police officers were earlier photographed at the scene, but appeared to only be standing by to prevent a traffic build up and to guard the tanker rather than pull down the protestors.
Etienne Stott, a former British Olympian who took home gold at London 2012, was seen atop the tanker being given a hard hat as police looked to remove him and another activist.
In a tweet about the protest, XR said: ‘Rebels including Olympians Etienne Stott & Laura Baldwin are occupying an oil tanker in central London. We call on the govt to end all new #FossilFuels investment NOW.’
In a statement, Met Police said: ‘We attended Bayswater Road at approx. 0850 BST to deal with a number of protestors who had climbed on an oil tanker. We have made six arrests for vehicle interference. The road is now open.’
It comes after members of the eco-mob blocked four of London’s busiest bridges on the first day of the Easter bank holiday.
Six people have been arrested after Extinction Rebellion protesters – including Olympian slalom canoeist Etienne Stott (seen in the grey helmet) – climbed onto a Shell oil tanker in London as the group continues to bring chaos to the capital
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Six people have been arrested after Extinction Rebellion protesters – including Olympian slalom canoeist Etienne Stott (seen in the grey helmet) – climbed onto a Shell oil tanker in London as the group continues to bring chaos to the capital