CLIMATE activists dropped a large banner reading “April 21: Unite To Survive” from London’s Westminster Bridge this morning at the start of a 100-day campaign.

Extinction Rebellion (XR) protesters marched from Jubilee Gardens and formed a chain on the pavement across the bridge to mark the countdown to April 21, when some 100,000 people are expected to gather outside Parliament to demand urgent action on climate change.

Dr Stephanie Williamson of Scientists for XR said that it was important to “build bridges and come together across differences to unite for our very survival.”

She said: “To address the climate and ecological emergency together is to transform to a just and free future for all.

“Everyone is ready and crying out for change.”

In a new year statement, XR vowed to “disrupt the abuse of power and imbalance” by targeting “the true perpetrators” of the climate emergency.

The non-violent direct action group said it would work to bring movements together, adding that thousands of people are “ready and waiting to do the work the government is unwilling to do.”

Dr Caroline Vincent of Scientists for XR said: “Disruptive protest has done so much to change the conversation around the climate and ecological emergency over the last four years.

“More and more people are waking up to realities of the climate crisis and more and more are saying they want immediate and decisive action.

“The government isn’t listening and the only way that changes is by all of these newly concerned people recognising their own power and stepping into active resistance.”

Dr Vincent said that, with the government clamping down on the right to protest, “it’s clear that only larger numbers of people taking peaceful action together over prolonged periods will prove impossible to ignore.”