Climate change protesters have blocked four of London’s busiest bridges on the first day of the Easter bank holiday.

Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists were on Waterloo, Blackfriars, Lambeth and Westminster bridges, calling for an end to new fossil fuel investments.

Activists said they will continue protesting until their demands “are met”.

Demonstrators playing bongos and waving banners reading “end fossil fuels now” and “love in action” have been pictured facing queues of traffic headed by double-decker buses.

The Metropolitan Police said they were attempting to control the disruption, with officers seen trying to engage with those involved.

The force said: “We are aware of a number of demonstrations happening today.

“We are seeing pockets of protest which are causing delays and disruption across central London.

“A policing operation is in place and officers are on scene and working to manage the impact.”

One of the protesters, named Clive, in his fifties, speaking on Westminster Bridge, told the PA news agency: “We don’t want to disrupt ordinary people’s lives but what we found is that in order to get the attention of Government, in order to impress upon people what’s happening, we’ve been forced down this route.

“We apologise to anyone if we have caused them any disruption. I hope they will all appreciate if it gets to a position where we can’t grow crops any more, the disruption that will come from that will be massively worse.”

A student going by the name Froggy, 21, said: “We’re still here, this isn’t forgotten, this wasn’t a flash in the pan and we’re going to keep coming back until our demands are met.”