EXTINCTION REBELLION (XR) protesters have targeted key sites in Whitehall in a dramatic warning about global warming targets being missed.

The activist theatre group Apolcalyse Theatric supported the demonstrations outside the Ministry Of Defence, House of Lords and 55 Tufton Street, a hub for right-wing think tanks and lobby groups on Saturday.

Its Oil Slick members “glided in triangular formation” through Whitehall as activists symbolically “closed the door” on institutions they say have failed to act on scientific warnings.

Marking the first phase in XR UK’s Triology campaign, the black-clad activists paused at the buildings’ entrances to condemn their complicity in the passing of the 1.5°C Paris climate goal.

XR activists carried banners saying “Tell the truth,” “A better world is possible,” and “1.5°C is dead” as others spoke to passers-by about their campaign.

Among them was David MacMillan, a retired IT project manager from Bath, who said: “We raised the alarm seven years ago. Now the National Emergency Briefing and climate security experts are saying the same things, but the public aren’t being told.

“Instead of telling the truth, our political leaders are doubling down on oil and keeping the real risks behind closed doors.”

Apiarist Marion, 71, who also took part, said: “We’re not talking about a line on a graph here, we’re talking about the safety of the British people. Our best chance has gone.

“Ordinary folk will pay the price as more heatwaves make travel, work and classrooms unsafe, more floods damage homes and our farmers can’t grow the food we need to survive.

“Crossing 1.5°C won’t mean the world will end tomorrow, but it does mean an increasingly unstable and less predictable climate and the systems we rely on are placed under increasing strain.”

The demonstrations were held three weeks after climate scientists warned politicians, business and community leaders that Britain risks severe climate-related risks to its economy, public health, food systems and national security at the National Emergency Briefing.

“Despite this, the briefing was barely attended by MPs, received minimal media coverage, and has been effectively kept from the public,” said an XR spokesman.

“Even the government’s own Joint Intelligence Committee has warned that climate breakdown poses escalating security risks — yet these warnings have been quietly filed away, not shared openly.”