Dozens of protesters have been dragged away from Waterloo Bridge by police officers after blocking the roads for a second day.
As a large group of officers arrived to remove campaigners for the group Extinction Rebellion, they were met with chants of “We are peaceful, what about you?”.
There were loud cheers, the ringing of bells, and the blowing of whistles as people were quickly arrested and taken to police vans.
Campaigners at Waterloo Bridge crowded and rallied around a man who was screaming, “This is a fascist police state”, as he was confronted by officers.
The number of arrests since the action began on Monday has now reached 122, including five for criminal damage.
Many protesters still remain on the bridge, chanting for climate justice and refusing to move.
Thousands of people had gathered at five central London locations on Monday for the Extinction Rebellion protest.
By that evening the Metropolitan Police imposed conditions on the protesters, restricting them to gathering in the area around Marble Arch.
Despite the police order requiring the protesters go to Marble Arch, at 4am each road off Parliament Square was still blocked.
The demonstrators said no attempt had been made to move them, and that they intended to stay for as long as they could, working in shifts.
One woman said: “Protesters have been here since 9am and we want to stay for a couple of weeks. We’ll be leaving at 7am and others will come to take our place.”
Four activists have chained and glued themselves underneath a lorry parked on Waterloo Bridge in London, where they slept overnight.
The campaigners stationed themselves under the lorry with blankets and sleeping bags, where they say they will stay for as long as possible.
Blythe Pepino, 34, from Hereford, said: “The purpose is to maintain the disruption on the bridge to bring the Government to the table and talk about the climate crisis.
“I think we’ll be taken more seriously over time because we’re not planning on going away.
“Legal marches come and go and there’s not much action or coverage on it, civil disobedience is the only way to bring urgency.”
Ben Moss, 42, from Islington, North London, glued himself to the bars of the lorry at midnight on Tuesday morning.
He said: “We’re in an extreme situation, we have to take action, this is my personal action to the moral issue of the climate crisis and ecological collapse.
“I’m doing this because I want the Government to do something.
“I’ve got a week off work, if more is necessary I can make my excuses, I’m a director of a company, I work at a co-operative, but not everyone can come and do this.”
He added: “I want to give this the time necessary, we need action, this will create attention.”
Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove of the Metropolitan Police said: “Ongoing demonstrations are causing serious disruption to public transport, local businesses and Londoners who wish to go about their daily business.
“At this time we have made a total of 122 arrests, five of which were for criminal damage following disruption outside commercial premises earlier yesterday, and the remaining 117 were on Waterloo Bridge last night and in the early hours of this morning.
“We have significant resources in place to deal with any incidents that may arise.”