Extinction Rebellion has entered its second day of demonstrations with roads remaining closed in London's West End and activists still chained to a giant pink table.
It comes after police made 52 arrests on the first day of a two-week climate protest which saw a huge piece of pink furniture - with the words 'Change is Now' and 'Come to the table' written on it - erected on the junction of Long Acre, St Martins Lane and Garrick Street.
This morning one of the protesters who spent the night underneath the table was taken to hospital in an ambulance. Their condition is currently unknown.
Yesterday, police finally began making mass arrests after London's West End was paralysed for hours when demonstrators ignored repeated demands - made by loudspeaker - for them to leave the area.
Before mass arrests at 8pm, the Metropolitan police had detained just eight people, despite the fact the protest began at midday. By 10.15pm on Monday, the police said the the number of arrests had increased to 52.
The protest forced police to close off several roads around the area which would normally be thronged with tourists and families sightseeing.
Protesters camped underneath a giant pink table in central London on Monday night as Extinction Rebellion's demonstration enters its second day
A police officer asks demonstrators to leave during a protest of Extinction Rebellion activists in London on Monday
Extinction Rebellion activists take to the streets of London to protest for the climate and ecological emergency
This morning one of the protesters who spent the night underneath the table was taken to hospital in an ambulance. Their condition is currently unknown
Several protesters were seen being carried into police vans as crowds chanted 'shame on you.' A small crowd has remained under the giant table near Leicester Square tube station. Officers said that they will be confiscating the table when the protesters are finally cleared.
The group blindsided officers by converging on Trafalgar Square on Monday to begin two weeks of what they described as 'impossible rebellion'.
The group further outsmarted officers by driving vans on two streets surrounding the Long Acre junction, before activists locked chained themselves together while lying under the vehicles' wheels.
The Met has promised to take a harsher approach after previous Extinction Rebellion demonstrations paralysed the capital.
Officers initially tried to bring the protest to an early end by putting in place a cordon which allowed people to leave the area but not to return to it.
But this resulted in the area being occupied almost entirely by protesters, forcing the police to move some of their cordons.
Shop owners, restaurateurs and accountants have been among those to slam the selfish actions of XR activists as they shared their fury at facing further obstacles on the road to recovery after an already challenging 18-month period.
Mustafa Ahmadi, 37, who runs Star Gifts near to Leicester Square tube station, fears he could lose as much as £10,000 by the end of the week because of the climate change demo.
His gift shop is close to where thousands of XR protesters have set up a giant pink table and occupied a busy road junction in between Leicester Square and Covent Garden.
Mr Ahmadi described the protest as 'another kick in the teeth' for local businesses and warned the financial impact could be akin to another lockdown.
He said: 'It's like another lockdown because the shop is so quiet. It's not just me but other businesses around here.
'The police have many of the roads locked off and so the tourists and families who we would normally see are being kept out.
'It's another kick in the teeth. I could lose £10,000 if this carries on to the end of the week.
Thousands swarmed onto a busy road junction between Leicester Square and Covent Garden, which has now become the focal point for the XR's two-week long climate change protest.
Commenting on the table stunt, a spokesperson said that four activists 'emerged from the truck that carried the huge object into the square and climbed onto the table'.
The group say they are now 'preparing to stay for the long haul and occupy the square'.
The spokesperson added: 'The table launched XR's Impossible Rebellion, bringing the seemingly impossible to life in outlandish Extinction Rebellion style.
'The table – packed with a number of built in lock ons, sleeping quarters and its own stereo system – was followed by thousands of marchers from Trafalgar Square who arrived to demand the impossible, many of whom were equipped with pink chairs.
Workers remove part of a large pink structure that had been used by environmental activists from Extinction Rebellion to block the junction of Long Acre and Upper St Martin's Lane in London
Police patrol in central London where environmental activists constructed a large pink table on Monday
Protesters were pictured underneath the table this morning after spending the night chained to the structure
Environmental activists sat wearing blankets to keep warm this morning as police patrolled nearby
One man wore a suit as he joined protesters underneath the giant pink table ahead of another day of demonstrations
'As floods, fire and famine break out around the world, it is clear that climate breakdown is here now, and there is no choice left now but to take urgent action.
'Everyone deserves a seat at the table to have a say in how to tackle the greatest crisis of our times.'
Mr Ahmadi, whose business was shut throughout the lockdown at the start of the year, said: 'I'm trying to cover what I lost during the Pandemic and this is not helping.
He told MailOnline: 'They gave us no warning. Many protests come past the shop but we are always given notification. Not today, the protesters turned up just after midday and closed the area down.
'I've no idea how long they plan to stick around. I hope they make their point quickly and then go. Otherwise I want the police to do their job and move them on.
'We've only just re-opened after lockdown and the footfall is already down significantly since the protest began.'
Roberta Marzocca, general manger of the Pizza Pilgrims restaurant, said: 'We were closed down completely between December and May because of lockdown, the last thing we need is to be hit financially again.
'The police have some of the roads cordoned off but we hope customers will still come.
'It's still too early to tell if we'll be negatively affected - I really hope not.'
At around 6pm on Monday evening, the Met announced on Twitter that the protest on the junction of Long Acre Long Acre, St Martins Lane and Garrick Street had to end by 7pm.
When that was ignored, they began moving in to make mass arrests.
Four protesters who had chained themselves themselves together under the front wheel arches of an open top van, which had been parked nearby on Garrick Street, finally began to be removed by officers.
Another two protesters had earlier climbed on top of the van waving XR flags as police watched on.
At around 6pm, officers moved in and arrested four protesters who had fixed themselves to another van parked on St Martins Lane, near the Noel Coward Theatre.
Police officers, specially trained to work at heights and to separate people who chain or lock themselves together, were brought in from neighbouring Thames Valley Police but also from as far afield as Merseyside.
Police have pledged to take a more robust approach to Extinction Rebellion protesters to stop them from paralysing London as they did two years ago.
Activists form the climate change awareness group have set up a giant pink table in the middle of the West End and a crowd of thousands has gathered around it, bringing a bustling part of the city between Leicester Square and Covent Garden to a standstill.
But a senior officer at the scene told MailOnline the protesters would not be allowed to occupy the area for days on end like they did during the last summer protests in 2019.
There were no demonstrations last year due to the Coronavirus pandemic but two years ago, XR protesters brought in a pink boat and put it in the middle of Oxford Circus where they remained for a fortnight.
The officer said: 'You saw the chaos Extinction Rebellion caused during their summer protest in 2019 and how the Met was criticised for not doing enough to stop it.
'That won't be allowed to happen again.
'The protesters who have set up the pink table want to remain in the area for a considerable amount of time,
