This is the moment police moved into deal with the climate change protesters blocking traffic in the city centre. Members of the Extinction Rebellion campaign group launched a protest on Great Ancoats Street during rush hour on Monday. Video footage shows officers a large number of police officers, some carrying riot shields, removing protesters from the road. Police say two men and three women have been arrested for obstructing the highways, and public nuisance offences. Police officers could be seen using cutting equipment to release some of the protesters who attached themselves to concrete blocks placed in the road. Read more of today’s top stories here The protesters said they were raising awareness of the illegal levels of air pollution in the city centre. They have also staged the protest to call on the council to cancel plans to create a car park on the former Central Retail Park site, also on Great Ancoats Street, and build a green space in the area instea. It formed part of a series of protests which took place across the UK named ‘The Air We Grieve’. Around 10 campaigners donning orange overalls could be seen straddling a wooden construction in the middle of the road earlier this morning. The protest has caused major traffic problems in the city centre, with congestion building onto the Mancunian Way and into Miles Platting. Bus services have been delayed or on diversion. A statement from Extinction Rebellion said: “Extinction Rebellion groups from across the North are today taking action to highlight the criminal levels of air pollution both nationally and locally. “Air pollution contributes to around 1,200 early deaths in Greater Manchester every year and around 4.2 million worldwide. “On Monday December 9 Extinction Rebellion activists shutdown Great Ancoats street at the same time as other Extinction Rebellion activists in other towns and cities across the UK shut down streets in a protest entitled ‘The Air We Grieve’. “This location has been chosen because of the planned construction of a carpark in a city that is desperately lacking in green space. This is a decision that has been massively disputed by residents, with a petition by campaigning group Trees not Cars gaining over 11,000 signatures and is very close to a school that put a bid in to use a part of the space for a playground. “Yet this is not being taken seriously by the council or the combined authority who rejected these proposals. Despite both having declared a Climate Emergency within the last year. “On top of this, 152 roads in Greater Manchester, including Great Ancoats street, exceed the legal limits of harmful Nitrogen Dioxide. This follows action taken by Extinction Rebellion in August, where many occupied Deansgate for four days as part of the ‘Northern Rebellion’.” Member of Extinction Rebellion North, Dom said: “We’re here out of desperation, our air is polluted to illegal levels. Over three people die a day in Manchester due to the h
