TEN Cumbrians have been arrested so far as part of the ongoing Extinction Rebellion climate protests in London.

More than 500 in total across the country have been arrested, with numbers going up daily.

Tens of thousands of rebels have been blocking the streets of the capital to traffic to cause maximum disruption, demanding the government take action on the climate crisis.

The protestors said they had three demands.

These include the government to tell the truth about the climate emergency, that it commits to reducing emissions to net zero by 2025 and to set up a Citizens Assembly to determine how this will be achieved.

“We know the target will be difficult to achieve, but the point is we have to achieve it to have any hope of avoiding catastrophic climate breakdown,” said Maggie Mason from Kendal.

“This is an emergency and we have to do the seemingly impossible, otherwise we are facing the very real prospect of human extinction.”

The protests are widely acknowledged to be the largest act of mass civil disobedience in UK history, and the movement has been growing rapidly since it began a year ago.

Mark Arrowsmith from Kendal, who was also part of the April rebellion, said: “It’s extraordinary to think that six months ago we were just 12 from Cumbria who protested at the Easter Rebellion in London. This time more than 130 Cumbrians are travelling down to take part in this historic moment.”

The Cumbrian groups were tasked with initially taking over one of the 12 sites across the capital.

Activists from South Lakes locked themselves to each other using steel tubes and had to be cut out with angle grinders by specialist police drafted in to deal with the protest.

They were arrested at the scene. Other Cumbrians were arrested for driving catering equipment onto the site.Cumbria groups also joined with the North East and Scotland XR to take a site outside Westminister Abbey.

Adrian Porter, from Staveley, who was arrested on Monday, said “Giving up a couple of weeks’ work, sleeping on tarmac and in police cells, is the price I feel we have to pay to broadcast the vital message of this climate emergency.”

The protests have been going on since Sunday and are due to continue for two weeks.