A SIT down climate change protest by a man and his dog in the middle of a main Worcester road caused a traffic jam before police arrived to arrest the activist.

The male activist with a large sign sat down in the middle of City Walls Road in Worcester today, causing tailbacks on the route into the city - before police arrived and arrested the him.

A video of the protest was live streamed on Facebook by Extinction Rebellion Worcester.

The placard read: "I'm terrified because David Attenborough is terrified by the climate crisis."

In a live stream video the man, who appears with his dog, spoke about the loss of insects and biodiversity and said people are 'hardly even aware of it'.

Extinction Rebellion Worcester filmed and live streamed the video on Facebook.

A spokesman for the group said: "City Walls Road Worcester NOW!!! This action was organised by members of Extinction Rebellion across the UK in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the worsening climate crisis. We have listened to the science.

"That is why this man is putting his life on the line by sitting alone in the face of oncoming traffic, along with hundreds of others around the country, to say to our government ‘I will not be a bystander’ while you lie to the public about your climate ambition and continue to invest in business as usual.” He is terrified because David Attenborough has said we are heading down the path to extinction."

In the video a police community support officer arrived and asked the man if they could have a chat with him off the road. Car horns can be heard and a large crowd gathered to watch on the pavement.

The officer said: "There is an offence you are currently committing. You are wilfully blocking the highway."

When asked to move he said 'that would defeat the point of this protest'. After several warnings a police officer turns up. Someone can be heard shouting 'get out of the way'. He is then arrested at around 11.15am.

A similar protest has also been captured today in Barnard’s Green. A  male activist arrived with a A-board with a message quoting campaigner Greta Thunberg. The sign read: “I don’t want your hope. I want you to panic. I want you to act as if the house is on fire. Because it is.”

One witness described the scene on the roads as ‘chaos’.