SCOTTISH rebels from Extinction Rebellion (ER) have pledged to stand firm into a second week of climate change protests in London.

The protests have seen thousands arriving from all over the UK – including hundreds from Scotland – to help close down parts of Westminster at the heart of the capital city. More than 1290 have been arrested since the start of the action last Monday, including 50 detained during protests at City airport.

Eleven camps were established around the city last week, including one set-up by Scottish climate change protesters. All have since been cleared by the Met Police apart from the main site in Trafalgar Square and the

campsite in Vauxhall.

Colourful actions have included a grief march for the planet, which organisers claimed attracted 20,000 people yesterday. Earlier in the week hundreds of mothers held a nurse-in feeding their babies in Whitehall to highlight their fears for their futures. Others laid out 110 pairs of shoes on the steps of the National Gallery to signify deaths due to air pollution.

ER is calling on governments to take immediate and sweeping changes to address the climate emergency, with extreme weather affecting millions in the global south and beyond.

Yesterday more than 100 healthcare professionals joined the protests, with doctors, nurses and medical students among those demonstrating at Jubilee Gardens, near oil giant Shell’s London HQ, as part of the Health March for the Planet.

On Friday Scottish protesters closed the roads around Liverpool Street where an oil and gas fiscal summit was being held and blocked the doors to the conference, where UK Government ministers were holding talks with the representatives of fossil fuel companies.

Elsewhere in the city two Scottish activists scaled the BBC’s Broadcasting House, calling on the broadcaster to “tell the truth” about the urgent nature of the climate crisis.

More actions are planned this week and it is expected that transport will be disrupted, roads blocked and financial institutions targeted.

Marco Tenconi, a member of ER Scotland, who arrived in advance of the protests and helped set up the Scottish camp, told the Sunday National that it had been an “incredible” and difficult week. Police tactics – including use of Section 14 orders to ban protests and clear camps – combined with bad weather left many Scots feeling demoralised. However, he said, many remain committed to this week’s protests.

“On Friday we were involved in some big actions and it was a very powerful day,” he said. “It is depressing and horrible to have to disrupt normal people’s lives and to watch your friends sitting together locked on for hours in the rain. But we’re doing it because it works. We’re adapting to police tactics, and feel on the front foot again, so spirits are high.”

Tenconi, a 23-year-old analyst for a sustainable development company, has been involved in Extinction Rebellion since January this year. “I now think the only way we can change things is through people power,” he added. “I was attracted to XR because it recognised the urgency of mass mobilisation. People are already dying [due to the effects of climate change] all over the world. All of us here have felt so anxious and alone. Now we have found collective joy and solidarity in these actions.”

Meanwhile, former Paralympic cyclist James Brown appeared in court yesterday charged with causing a public nuisance during the group’s protest at London City Airport.

The 55-year-old, who is visually impaired, is accused of climbing on top of a British Airways plane and gluing himself to it, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard. He was bailed and is due to stand trial on November 8.