Protesters in Britain
(Photo : REUTERS / Henry Nicholls)
Protesters block the road during an Extinction Rebellion demonstration at Bank, in the City of London, Britain.

Climate change protesters have blocked London's financial district on Monday, as the activists urged the financial institutions to stop banking on worldwide environmental catastrophe.

The activists, including Extinction Rebellion protesters, blocked the streets around the Bank in the heart of the City of London. They targeted significant financial institutions which are allegedly funding fossil fuel exploration and infrastructure. Extinction Rebellion, in a statement, said today's protest sought to highlight the far more significant disruption faced by those living in the environments systematically being destroyed by UK-based companies.

The group is engaged in two weeks of civil disobedience in London, they said. They are likewise promoting a rebellion against the economic, political, and social structure of the modern world to prevent the most dangerous destruction of the planet outlined by environmental scientists. Extinction Rebellion added they will continue doing non-violent civil disobedience to drive governments to cut carbon emanations and turn away an environmental emergency that will bring starvation and social breakdown to humanity.

Carolina Rosa, the spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion, told Reuters that the City of London is a "preeminent nexus" of the global system's power, which is destroying the planet. Rosa likewise underscored that environmental destruction is universal and is "hitting the global south now."

Chay Harwood, a 23-year-old activist from Bristol, told The Guardian that they are doing a protest in London's financial district to highlight the commercial organizations' "vested interests" in deforestation and obliteration of individuals' lives and occupations.

Protesters added that the banking sector's "contribution to funding climate breakdown is driving us towards ecological collapse." According to the Associated Press, they are taking drastic action to bring awareness to what it calls an "unprecedented global emergency," showing that humanity is "in the midst of mass extinction of our own making."

About 100 demonstrators walked into the roundabout outside the Bank of England in the City and sat down in the road early Monday.

The City of London Police, on their official Twitter account, previously warned about the disruptive demonstrations that were expected to block roads near London's Bank Junction. 

Police circulated through the crowds and began making arrests. They noted that there had been more than 1,300 arrests since the protests started.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney explained to Reuters that the financial sector is doing their best in improving its management of reducing climate risk, noting that the global temperature changes would incite reassessments of the estimation of each and every monetary asset and resource. 

Carney has been among the main voices in the financial sector in informing the dangers environmental conditions face to the influence of the worldwide financial system. He has driven different global activities to improve supervision and exposure. 

He told the United Nations atmosphere summit last month that climate disclosure must be comprehensive, and sustainable investing must be mainstream. He likewise underscored the need for climate risk management transformations.

Carney added that a sustainable financial system could help improve the effects of climate policies and expedite the change to a lower-carbon economy.