Climate protesters try to block UK's Johnson as he goes to palace
LONDON (Reuters) - Demonstrators from Greenpeace tried to block the wide ceremonial avenue leading to Buckingham Palace on Wednesday as Britain's incoming Prime Minister Boris Johnson was driving up it in a convoy to meet Queen Elizabeth to begin his term as leader.
A group of mostly female protesters from the environmental group, dressed in red, linked hands across the road while others briefly unfurled a "Climate Emergency" banner as they sought to interrupt the passage of a car accompanied by police outriders.
The car moved slowly around them before reaching the palace shortly afterwards.
Greenpeace said it staged the protest to call Johnson to take action against climate change.
The group said it tried to hand him a 134-point manifesto listing actions to stop a "catastrophic climate breakdown" including scrapping plans for a new runway at London's Heathrow Airport and calling for action to achieve net zero emissions.
"The government is simply failing to tackle the climate crisis," John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said in a statement.
"It’s not enough to point to world-leading climate targets when too often government policy ignores or worsens the situation by supporting fracking and banning onshore wind."
Last month, Greenpeace demonstrators briefly interrupted a high-profile speech by then finance minister Philip Hammond to leaders of Britain's financial services industry.
(Reporting by Kate Holton and Costas Pitas; Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Stephen Addison)
