A Just Stop Oil event, which drew over 160 demonstrators, created massive traffic disruptions in London’s West End.
On Monday morning, protesters obstructed traffic in seven spots in the West End, Westminster, and South London.
Some formed a queue and walked through Haymarket, a significant road that connects Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and is home to a number of theatres, hotels and restaurants.
The Strand, Kennington Lane, and Waterloo Bridge were also congested.
“Officers are on the scene, and we’ll aim to get traffic moving freely again as soon as it is safe to do so,” Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Buses, lorries and commuters have been thrown into a jam as they chant, hold placards and move slowly in a queue behind the demonstrators.
Just Stop Oil said in a statement that the march is “in solidarity with the UK’s political prisoners,” especially those “wrongly imprisoned for resisting the Government’s genocidal plans to licence over 100 new oil and gas projects by 2025.”
“At 1pm today, hundreds more will march to the Shell building with supporters of Extinction Rebellion and other groups to demand an end to the fossil fuel era,” the group threatened.
According to Just Stop Oil, marches are scheduled for “every Saturday” at Parliament Square beginning at 12 p.m.