The Latest: Climate protesters block traffic in Madrid

The Latest on international climate protests (all times local):

1:40 p.m.

Climate activists have blocked roads and staged a sit-in in Madrid as they joined a global wave of actions by the Extinction Rebellion movement to draw attention on failed environmental policies.

A few dozen activists briefly chained themselves to each other and to an elevated road over a major artery in the Spanish capital at rush hour on Monday morning.

The National Police in Madrid says 33 activists have been taken to their premises and three have been arrested for resisting orders by anti-riot officers.

A few hundred other protesters have camped out in 40 tents at the gates of the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition in Madrid.

Extinction Rebellion wants to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2025.

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11:40 a.m.

London Police say they’ve arrested 21 climate change activists over the past few days as the Extinction Rebellion group attempts to draw attention to global warming.

The capital’s Metropolitan Police say the arrests on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance took place Saturday and Sunday.

The arrests come as protesters in Berlin and Amsterdam blocked roads ahead of what is being described as widespread demonstrations. Further protests are taking place Monday in London.

The group’s protesters have succeeded before in disrupting life in London in hopes of gaining attention to their cause.

In April, members of the group blocked several London roads and bridges during 10 days of action designed to alert the public and politicians to the “climate emergency.”

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9:55 a.m.

Activists are blocking a major road in Amsterdam as they call for the Dutch government to do more to tackle climate change.

Hundreds of demonstrators from the Extinction Rebellion group blocked the road and set up tents early Monday.

Police say they arrested some of the protesters on the road outside the Rijksmuseum, one of the city’s most popular tourist draws.

The demonstration went ahead despite the city banning activists from gathering on the road. The demonstrators ignored police calls for them to move to a nearby square.

Protester Elle van Zeeland told Dutch broadcaster NOS that the group is “staying here until the government meets its obligations.”

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8:35 a.m.

Climate activists with the Extinction Rebellion movement have blocked a central junction in Berlin at the beginning of what is billed as a wide-ranging series of protests for new climate policies.

Around 1,000 people blocked the Grosser Stern, a traffic circle in the middle of the German capital’s Tiergarten park dominated by the landmark Victory Column, in a protest that started in the early hours of Monday.

Members of Extinction Rebellion have also set up a camp outside Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office ahead of what it called an “international rebellion” starting Monday. It says protests are planned in 60 cities worldwide.

Founded in Britain last year, the movement, also known as XR, now has chapters in some 50 countries.

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